Software programmers, water experts to join hands to create tools for mobile user

What if you could use your mobile phone app to locate a clean public toilet; what if you could use an app to call for a water tanker during a water crisis and track its progress? Makes life a little easy, doesn’t it? This scenario, which looks unlikely now, might eventually come true, thanks to water experts and software programmers.

About 100 software developers are gathering at International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, for a marathon coding session to create tools for tackling problems related to water and sanitation in city.
WaterHackathon, which opens on Friday, will bring water experts and programmers together for the first time, said Swastik Harish of Indian Institute for Human Settlements, which is organising the event along with India Water Portal and World Bank.

The marathon brainstorming and programming will begin on Saturday morning and end on Sunday noon.

The event is being simultaneously held in 10 cities around the world. Bangalore is the only participant from South Asia.

The idea is to see if mobile applications can alleviate water and sanitation problems, said Deepak Menon of India Water Portal.
“There are 600 million mobile phone connections in the country. We’re working on how this can be tapped. The hackathon evolved after two brainstorming sessions, including the one with the World Bank,” he said.

Programmers will come together in teams to create tools for the mobile user to locate public toilets, rate their cleanliness, help in getting information on water tankers, track them and find out when it would arrive and so on. GPS technology could be deployed here too. “We are also examining if consumers can place an order on the phone and track history of orders. There is also need for a policy watch application that would give information on new policies,” said Swastik.

The event has already received over a 100 registrations. Enthusiasts are mostly professional programmers working in the field of mobile phone applications. More info on the event is available at waterhackathon.org.