Well Beyond App Looks to Ensure Water Projects’ Success

Nonprofit Well Aware in partnership with Well Beyond, a for-profit technology company for the water sector, recently unveiled the Well Beyond App. The app is the first and only patent-pending diagnostics and maintenance app developed to ensure long-term success for water projects.

This app will be beneficial because 60 percent of water wells fail, despite thousands of nonprofits working to provide clean water in Africa. Now, two women-led businesses are joining forces to change this.

Well Aware has been providing water systems to impoverished communities in East Africa for more than 12 years. In fact, 100 percent of the organization’s wells and rainwater systems are still functioning today.

“It’s been humbling to learn from our partner communities and to see them prosper over the years,” says founder Sarah Evans.

Mobile tech and Wi-Fi connectivity have grown significantly in developing countries, providing an opportunity for the founders Evans and Kathryn Bergmann to create Well Beyond, a subsidiary of Well Aware. The Well Beyond app supports partner communities without using any contributions from donors.

“Nonprofits and governments are struggling to keep water systems working, and no one has tapped into the rapidly expanding Internet and mobile availability to fill the information and expertise gap. Enter Well Beyond,” says Bergmann. “With over a decade of experience keeping water systems running, we now have the tool to deliver our successful model directly to the people actually using the system. Our goal is to change the sector-wide failure rate with this new technology.”

The app was designed for community members to maintain and diagnose water systems, allowing them to independently solve issues. In addition to keeping the wells up and running indefinitely, the new tool also aggregates valuable data on how the water systems are used, providing indicators of community-led success.