Research & Knowledge Centers¶
Leading international institutions providing peer-reviewed research, engineering standards, and training curricula for rural water development.
1. CAWST (Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology)¶
- Headquarters: Calgary, Canada
- Focus: Global authority on low-cost decentralized water purification (BioSand filters, household water treatment, sanitation training). Provides completely free, open manuals in 8+ languages.
- Website: cawst.org
2. RWSN (Rural Water Supply Network) / Skat Foundation¶
- Headquarters: St. Gallen, Switzerland
- Focus: Global standard-setter for rural water supply, hand pump specifications (Afridev, India Mk II), manual drilling training, and sustainable groundwater management.
- Website: rural-water-supply.net
3. IRC WASH¶
- Headquarters: The Hague, Netherlands
- Focus: System-strengthening, lifecycle costing analysis, and government-level WASH policy research.
- Website: ircwash.org
4. WEDC (Water, Engineering and Development Centre)¶
- Institution: Loughborough University, UK
- Focus: World-renowned technical publications, field guides, and academic training for humanitarian and development water engineering.
- Website: lboro.ac.uk/wedc
5. WHO / UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP)¶
- Focus: Global baseline monitoring for Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).
- Website: washdata.org