ghPRao/Pump-It-Tanzania-Well-Predictor

Address the problem of broken wells and communities without access to clean water in Tanzania to prioritize proactive maintenance guidance. # Predicting Broken Wells in Tanzania photo courtesy of Tanzania Water Aid Project # Understanding the Problem Clean water is crucial to the Tanzanian people. Rain comes only seasonally with long wet and dry seasons, and many community water sources are seasonal as well. >4 million people in Tanzania lack access to an improved source of safe water, and 30 million don't have access to improved sanitation. People living under these circumstances, particularly women and girls, spend a significant amount of time traveling long distances to collect water. 1 We used the Pump it Up: Data Mining the Water Table 2 dataset from the Driven Data competition. This dataset has information about wells in Tanzania recorded between 2002 and 2013. The features of this dataset include information about when, how, and who constructed the wells, where they are located, what methods they use to extract and distribute water, water quality and quantity, well management and how individuals pay for the water they take. A large number of organizations have funded and installed wells in the country. Most are now managed locally by village water associations and trusts, but some are managed by for-profit companies or private individuals. The wells are not uniformly distributed, as you can see on the map below. It seems certain regions have attracted more projects than others. The blue dots are functioning wells (as of 2013) and the red dots are broken wells. You can see how well projects have been focused in certain regions with large tracts mostly neglected. The shade of green or yellow of each region indicates the total population of that region. While in some cases the density of wells correlates with the population, in others it does not. The good news is that most wells in Tanzania were functioning in 2013, and innovations such as solar powered wells have reduced the cost of operation and maintenance of many wells. However, disrepair is still an issue in …