WellFinder

Don't just try and help, do it effectively. We developed a tool for analytically determining optimal locations for wells to provide the greatest access to water to the most people.

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Inspiration

Helping others is a noble action, but we need to do it effectively. Oftentimes there is a discrepancy between the money that is thrown at such noble causes and what actually happens on the ground to improve the lives of the people that need it the most. For example, when tackling the scarcity of access to clean waters in countries like Ethiopia, we found striking evidence that many wells built with good intentions often fail to deliver on their promises, either drying up or being inaccessible. Therefore, we wanted to create an app that could suggest optimal well locations by taking into consideration a multifactorial analysis, ranging from population densities to groundwater availability and geological terrain. Moreover, we also want to give comprehensive information to people who are willing to invest in well-construction.

What it does

We came up with an application that shows the locations of suggested wells, detailed information about the well, and satellite viewing of the well location.

How we built it

To get started, we processed multiple open-source data sets such as the number of wells in certain regions, population densities, etc. Then we analyzed the data using Python, Pandas, and Geopandas libraries to determine which region "ranks" most in need in terms of wells. Finally, we built an android app using Flutter to show the suggested well location on Google Maps. When the user clicks on the well pinpoint, detailed information about the well and satellite pictures of the well location pop up, offering key insight beyond just the map.

Challenges we ran into

  1. Our main struggle was getting the data. In fact, we never could get the exact data we were looking for (i.e groundwater availability in Ethiopia), therefore, to complete the proof of concept, we choose to simulate US-California for our app. This is because the Californian government provides more data than any other Country / Region that matches in line with what we would hopefully do for regions in Africa. Moreover, California also experienced a water shortage in 2021, and therefore offers some more interesting data than other states in the USA.
  2. Although we got some data from the public internet, we are aware that the data that we got was less than we expected. To find the perfect well location, we would need more data and surveys of the location taken by experts.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We succeed in building an application that helps generous people who want to help get a better understanding of water distribution by showing the exact locations, detailed information, and satellite viewings of possible well sites. Additionally, we are extremely proud of the concept of charity we developed through ths project. In reality, our work is extensible way beyond wells. The key thing we did was match supply datasets -- water availability -- with demand datasets -- water scarcity -- in a way we deemed efficient, and this can be reflected in other charitable acts (i.e food banks).

What we learned

We learn about turning our ideas into real applications in 24h. Additionally, we learnt about good teamwork and how to solve a problem together.

What's next for WellFinder

  1. More data would be needed to assess more accurately well location. Surveys by experts and further analysis to determine appropriate locations of wells would be beneficial as well.
  2. Expanding WellFinder for a campaign for other causes forest conservation, food shelters, and clothes services.

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