In the rapidly growing urban regions across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) population growth is outpacing the installation of adequate supporting water infrastructure. This infrastructure gap has precipitated a huge reliance on single-use bottled water in these communities. In the city of Nairobi, 90% of people rely on bottled water sources on a regular basis. This reliance is creating a large economic and environmental burden. Bottled water is highly expensive, with an average worker in Kenya spending 15% of their income on it. It is also polluting, specifically, bottled water sources are 1000X more carbon intensive than tap water sources and only 90% of single-use plastic bottles are recycled. To tackle this, Majicom, a UK-based social enterprise, has created a novel solar water kiosk, designed with and for urban communities across Sub-Saharan Africa. The technology efficiently stores, purifies, and dispenses affordable and sustainable clean water through the utilization of solar energy. In order for the kiosk to be deployed, a solar power management system must be integrated, one that ensures effective storage and efficient utilisation of solar energy in various weather conditions. However, solar power systems (specifically batteries) are often associated with e-waste - of which over 90% is left unrecycled in regions across Sub-Saharan Africa. This project will focus on combining the Majicom water kiosk with a solar power management system that utilises re-purposed lithium ion batteries (LIBS) processed from local e-waste sources in Kenya through a collaboration with INNO-NEAT. The integrated kiosk will then undergo rigorous testing at the two largest Kenyan universities , assessing water purification performance and engineering integrity across various weather conditions. The project's culmination will see the kiosk certified for use, initiating a demonstrauton pilot program at the universities, granting students convenient access to clean and affordable drinking water on their campus.

One billion people lack access to clean drinking water. This problem is acute in rapidly growing urban communities across Sub-Saharan Africa, where population growth is outpacing the development of supporting water infrastructure. To solve this, Majicom is developing a state-of-the-art water kiosk, that stores, purifies, and dispenses clean affordable clean water via the use of solar energy. It is underpinned by our flexible water purification toolkit, specifically designed for resource-constrained settings. Our innovative purifiers utilise sunlight (directly or through solar panels), enabling our kiosks to operate at ultra-low power and costs. This is combined with a digital ecosystem that coordinates remote monitoring of usage and performance, revenue sharing, digital payments, and rewards. These kiosks will be installed on university campuses in Tanzania and will offer end-users (students) water at a 50% discount vs bottled water whilst providing universities with a source of income through a revenue share. This project will focus on developing Majicom's novel advanced-material-enabled purification technology into a functional prototype for in-field testing, and the design for the manufacture of the digital kiosk architecture for commercial trials in 2023\. Majicom's mission is to create better local health outcomes and a significant reduction in CO2 emissions through the use of solar power and avoidance of single-use plastic (we aim to save 1570 tonnes of CO2 per year by 5 ). The project will support highly skilled jobs in the UK for R&D and manufacturing and strengthen the UK's position as a technology leader in water and environmental technologies.