kenneth-liao/water_pumps_tanzania

Classification model for predicting functional status of water pumps in Tanzania. # Improving Access to Clean, Safe Drinking Water in Tanzania Classification model for predicting functional status of water pumps in Tanzania. ## Resources A full blog post of this project can be found on my portfolio here: kennfucius.github.io The full analysis is broken into the 3 notebooks: Tanzania Water Pumps - EDA Part 1 Tanzania Water Pumps - Data Munging Tanzania Water Pumps - Model Slides for a 15 min talk of this project: Slide Deck The **original data** source is hosted on DrivenData at: Original data source ## Motivation Tanzania is recognized by the UN as a least developed country, or LDC 1 . LDCs are, in part, defined by the UN as "low-income countries confronting severe structural impediments to sustainable development" 2 . One critical impediment the country has struggled with for decades has been supplying and maintaining access to clean and safe drinking water for its population. In 2017, a reported 24.8 million citizens lacked access to 'at least basic' water 3 . For those fortunate enough to have access to this life-essential resource at any given time, it is never gauranteed. In most rural parts of the country, much of the potable water is accessed via water pumps that draw water from local sources. Around 60,000 hand-pumps are installed in sub-Saharan Africa every year, but between 30 to 40% of those do not function at anyone one time 4 ! When pumps no longer function, they are often abandoned. These non-functioning pumps have realized an estimated loss of $1.2 billion USD over the last 2 decades 4 . The first step in addressing this problem is identifying the functional status of water pumps. Once the functional status of a pump is known, the appropriate resources can be deployed to target sites in need of repair or replacement. Unfortunately, there is currently no efficient or accurate system to tackle this monumental problem. The status of a pump must be physically checked but local governments and orga …