Characterizing the dissemination process of household water treatment systems in less developed countries

Recently, household-level water treatment and safe storage systems (HWTS) have been developed and promoted as simple, local, user-friendly, and low cost alternatives to conventional municipal-level drinking water treatment systems. Yet, despite conclusive evidence of the health and economic benefits of HWTS, the implementation outcomes have been slow, reaching only approximately 5-10 million people. This study attempts to understand the barriers and drivers affecting HWTS implementation. A review of existing literature on HWTS implementation found that existing research effort to promote HWTS is rather fragmented, with a narrow focus either on technical, psychological, or marketing perspective. Also, the application of innovation diffusion theories on HWTS implementation has been largely unexplored. To fill these research gaps, it is proposed that a system dynamics modelling approach to characterize the complex diffusion process of HWTS can be a valuable tool to identify high impact, leverage strategies to scale-up HWTS adoption and sustained use.