Water Inspector

Collect data about questionable players in the industry by giving a voice to the average people

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Inspiration

A talk with Raphael and a similar solution that is implemented in Romania to stop illegal tree cutting. People want a voice to tell their opinion, especially when they are upset. They want their opinion to be heard and to have an impact. Also, they are more and more connected to the globalised world and can grasp easier when things are not going well by comparison to other places. They care about their kids and they are aiming for a better life.

Shortages of water has a direct impact on living and polluted water is affecting their finances and health. When water is a problem and the whole community is affected, people want to change things.

What it does

Water Inspector is a tool to collect data from average citizens about industry players that need guidance to be more sustainable. Q1: What is the address of the company that has a negative impact on your water? Open field - Required Q2: What does this company produce? Two choices: fabrics and other (to account for other industries) - Required Q3: What is the name of the company? Open field Q4: Is there other information that you think is relevant? Open field Data is displayed visually on a map and areas and companies with high reporting rates are now mapped.

How I built it

I have created a Google form and used an Addon Geocode to display the addresses introduced by citizens as points on the map. Also, used AppSheet to transform the Google form into an app. However, since I'm not registered as a payer I can't publish the app or segment the data so that the new respondents don't see the rest of the responses.

Challenges I ran into

I don't have any coding experience and I couldn't build a form that gets the location of the participant and shows it on the map, so there wouldn't be any typing involved. Also, would be useful to be able to move the location point, as the participant might not be in front of the factory when he is reporting.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

First time to use addons and very happy that data can be updated in real time. It's not a prototype, but a tool that can be used as it is. However, I would test it first; for example, reaching out to branches of WWF and asking them to translate it in the local language to have a proper wording and asking 5 locals to answer and see what concerns/ situations are raised.

I'm proud to able to do this by myself, but I think the journey would have been more fun in a team that believed in this idea.

What I learned

I should start learning to code, so that I have more flexibility in the tools that I imagine :))

What's next for Water Inspector

  • Adding a map to the form to make it even easier for participants to report
  • Creating an app that can be used repeatedly
  • Correlating it with a water risk map (www.wri.org) and identifying the suppliers that are in the high risk areas and need to be addressed first in terms of providing education about small steps they can take to be sustainable and incentives or subsidies for adopting new technology (such as that developed by DyeCo that doesn't use water or chemical to dye clothes)
  • Generate a rating for each player (A+, A, B+, B, C, D) that can be used in a tool that checks the reputational risks of big retailers
  • Use it to know not who to shame, but who to educate, by sending information about what small steps they can take to become sustainable, inviting them to workshops, giving incentives to adopt new technologies etc.

Built With

  • google-docs-addon-geocode
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