Water supply that does not fail.

A central water system puts all its risk where it puts all its capacity: one intake, one treatment works, one trunk main and hundreds of kilometres of pipes. When one link fails, the whole system fails. And the whole system depends on one thing: the rain that fills the dam or the shallow wells.

A shortage does not arrive in one day. It comes in steps: lower pressure, then rationing hours, then water trucks, then emergency works at several times the normal cost. By the time the shortage shows in the network, the fix takes years.

A resilience shield is built in the years before a drought.
It cannot be bought during one.

The client does not buy a single well. It buys a set of independent nodes, sized, sequenced and commissioned as one system. The grid is built from one repeatable unit: the node.

Every node draws water from outside the rain cycle.
No node depends on the rain, on a trunk main or on another node.

The client can own the nodes, or pay only for the water they make available. A larger programme combines both over several budget cycles.

In every option the assets stay in the country. Local contractors drill and assemble under supervision. The skills to operate and maintain the nodes are handed over to the operator, together with the records.

The grid is compared with what the client is actually paying today: water trucks, delayed pipeline projects or emergency works under pressure. It is not compared with a piped tariff that exists only on paper.

The final measure is the cost of water per cubic metre over the life of the node, set against what the client pays today. Health and productivity gains are supplied as checked data for the financing institution's own appraisal. They are not turned into money here.

The right configuration depends on the existing network and on the client's goal. The three modes are not alternatives. They are stages of one path.

1. A

   Mode A: connect to the existing network

   Nodes feed the existing pipes at a reservoir or pressure zone, as an extra source that does not depend on rain. Institutions, tariffs and the operator stay the same.

   Eases peak demand, shortens rationing and delays major pipeline works. The easiest and fastest way to first water.

2. B

   Mode B: make key sites independent

   A hospital, district, factory, mine, campus or strategic facility takes the node as its main supply. The central connection becomes the backup.

   The site no longer depends on the network, and the network carries less load. Full replacement for facilities and small settlements; critical users only at city scale (see 7.0).

3. C

   Mode C: a grid across the territory

   Nodes spread across the territory, locally connected, with service areas that overlap.

   The full design, built node by node: water security for a whole region.

The usual path is A, then B, then C. Mode A proves performance inside a system the client already trusts. Mode B makes critical sites independent. Mode C extends that to the whole territory. Nothing built at one stage is wasted at the next.

A grid is designed, not piled up. Its size follows a published design basis with six inputs:

• the population or load to serve;
• the service level, in litres per person per day;
• a factor for peaks and losses;
• the minimum capacity of a node;
• an operating factor that turns tested capacity into a steady daily rate;
• a spare-capacity allowance for each cluster.

Node capacity is a contractual minimum, not a hopeful estimate. A node is not built where the survey does not show at least that minimum, and every delivered node meets it. Capacity comes from the pumping test, measured against the water level available above the deepest productive zone.

Service levels come from recognised international standards: the Sphere minimum for domestic use, the WHO and UNHCR figures, and the JMP service ladder. They are cross-checked against the national standard. No in-house norm is used, so the financing institution can check every figure against references it already applies.

A shield is sized for what a territory cannot stop using, not for everything it uses.

A single facility or a settlement of up to about 25 000 people can be fully supplied by the grid; that limit follows from the current design basis. A city is covered in tiers. The grid first covers what must never stop: health facilities, water treatment for the wider network, food and cold chains, schools, emergency reserves and strategic industry. That tier is a small part of total use and a programme that can be financed. Coverage then grows outward, as budget and results allow.

The design always follows six steps

1. 1

   Demand map

   Where water is actually used, how much, in which season, against current and future supply.

2. 2

   Critical users

   Which users must never be cut off, and how much water they really need.

3. 3

   Promising rock

   Where the geology allows a node, found by survey, with the number of points to survey per node for each rock type.

4. 4

   Coverage

   Number of nodes, spacing, layout and planned overlap for the area to serve.

5. 5

   Build order

   Most critical and most promising first, so protection starts with the first node.

6. 6

   Approval gate

   No node joins the grid before independent testing. Only approved nodes count towards coverage.

The full model, with the sizing formula and the reference service levels, is set out in the Design Basis Note. Project figures are set in Phase 0 and become binding only at project level.

The layout follows the shape of the settlement and of the existing network. There is no fixed template.

• Point

  A single node at the facility.

  One hospital, plant, campus or strategic installation.

• Star

  Several nodes feeding one reservoir or pressure zone.

  Mode A integration into an existing network; lowest institutional friction.

• Ring

  Nodes on the perimeter of the built area, feeding inward.

  Compact settlement with a single centre of demand.

• Mesh

  Regular spacing across the territory with designed overlap of service areas.

  Dispersed rural settlement; Mode C. Spacing is set by the maximum acceptable distance from household to water point.

• Corridor

  Nodes along a road, valley or settlement axis.

  Linear settlement patterns, where a regular mesh would be wasted coverage.

• Core and shell

  A compact cluster covering critical loads, extended outward in stages.

  Cities and district capitals; the core is built first and has protective value on its own.

We plan the layout, and the rock decides where nodes can go. The final layout is the planned one matched against the map of promising rock structures. The feasibility phase shows the difference between the two; it is not assumed in advance.

A resilience tool that promises too much cannot be relied on when it is needed. So here is what the grid does not claim.

• It does not replace good utility management, demand control or leak repair. A grid built over a badly run network inherits its losses.
• It does not treat polluted or salty surface water or shallow wells. It is a separate source, not a repair of a damaged one.
• It is not emergency equipment. Nodes are planned and commissioned assets. The shield must exist before the shortage, so the time to decide matters more than the time to build.

Every programme follows four phases. Phase 0 is where the decision is made.

1. 0

   Feasibility

   Demand map, critical users, rock survey, list of candidate nodes with an indicative number of nodes, choice of layout, programme design and financing structure.

2. 1

   Pilot node

   One node delivered end to end under the full testing protocol, in Mode A or Mode B. Proof of performance inside the client's own system.

3. 2

   Cluster

   A small group of nodes for the most critical users. The first measurable protection, with the client's own staff trained to run it.

4. 3

   Grid

   The grid grows to its planned coverage, node by node, following the order set in Phase 0 and updated with each approved node.

After Phase 0, everything is the execution of a plan that already exists.

Contact

To request a Phase 0 feasibility study for a city, region, institution or strategic facility, write to askforaquote@decentralisedwatergrid.com.