Strategic Solutions for Household Water Containers in Disaster Relief Situations

Abstract

This report is the result of a six-month project executed for ‘Practica Foundation’, a partner company in the ‘S(P)EEDKITS project’. S(P)EEDKITS is an European union initiative with the goal of (re)designing emergency response kits. The existing foldable household water containers used in humanitarian relief had several bottlenecks. The goal of the assignment was to identified the bottlenecks and propose alternative product idea(s) and strategy for an household water container suitable for use in emergency relief. The various stakeholders were analysed, disaster analysis explored the context of use for the household water containers, product analysis explored bottlenecks in existing water containers and the requirements for a suitable household water container. The result of the stakeholder analysis showed that there were similar and sometimes conflicting requirements from different stakeholders. The result of the disaster analysis showed the need to develop a product that can withstand rough transportation condition. The product analysis highlighted benchmarks such as the need to have a 10 and 20-litre water container, the importance of preserving water quality, the need to make the water container foldable and the need for a opening small enough to prevent contamination by external material, while also large enough to avoid wastage of water at the tap. The gaps identified in these analyses made up the expert interview. Six humanitarian relief experts were interviewed. The result of the interview includes the need for the container to be stable on the ground in order to avoid water contamination when the container falls over, the need for the container to withstand harsh transportation and handling conditions and also the need to have handles strong that are enough to withstand frequent lifting of the container when filled with water. A summary of the requirements identified in the stakeholder analysis, disaster analysis, product analysis and expert interview were the starting point for the design and strategy proposed. An idea generation session consisted of participants from stakeholder companies and designers from Delft University of Technology. Seven concepts were generated during the session, and a final concept was selected based on earlier identified requirements. Furthermore, the strategy presented mapped out the extra benefit of the water container beyond the phase of emergency relief. A flexible pipe was proposed as an add-on to be used by disaster victims for the household purification of water. In conclusion, durability was identified as a major bottleneck of existing foldable water container. Therefore, the proposed concept was designed to have a rigid bottom and a flexible top. The flexible top will be stored in the rigid base during transportation by relief organizations.