Willingness to accept smart taps, improvement of water quality and water management in rural Ghana

Smart tap is a digital tap water system which focuses on improving finance models, asset management, regulation and sustainability of the rural water systems. The Smart tap converts the cash payment mode of collection of community water revenue to an electronic payment mode. In Ghana, the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) is responsible for the provision of safe and affordable drinking water to rural communities. The CWSA pilots the Smart tap with the aim to reducing transaction cost, improving water management, coverage and sustainability in rural communities in northern Ghana. This pilot study collected quantitative data using a well-structured questionnaire to assess the benefits of Smart tap, people willingness to adopt the Smart tap and the challenges encountered in northern Ghana before embarking on a Full Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). The descriptive statistics indicated that Smart tap helps improve water quality and water management, saves time and money for consumers. Also, 91.04 % of non-beneficiaries are willing to use the Smart tap system. However, challenges include irregular (inadequate) water in the water tank (reservoir), Smart tap card rejection, difficulty in loading money on Smart tap, Smart tap breakdowns, and long queues with Smart tap. CWSA would have to put in measures to address these challenges to ensure full operation of the Smart tap system.