Model 04 · Sell water by the litre
Community water station
Put a 300 L/h RO station in a market, school or compound and sell 20-litre barrels through a card or QR code.
A station is a retail site with a filter attached. The membrane is not the business. Footfall, uptime and collection are. Model the queue before you model the litres.
Who this suits
Operators with a secure site, a feed-water source and one attendant.
How the model runs, step by step
- 01
Test the source water
Hardness, TDS, iron and bacteria. The pretreatment design follows the test, not the catalogue. A station built for the wrong water eats membranes.
- 02
Count the queue
Stand at the site for three days. Count households, passing traffic, schools and clinics within 500 m. If the queue is not there, the payback is not there.
- 03
Secure the site
Concrete pad, shelter, drainage and a lockable cabinet. Water stations fail on site security more often than on water quality.
- 04
Price the barrel
Set the 20-litre price against bottled water, not against tap water. Explain the lab test on a board beside the nozzle.
- 05
Run a service route
Thirty-day filter check, membrane performance log, and a spare pump on the shelf. Group stations by density so the route does not eat the margin.
One station, three volumes
| Capex | USD 6,500 |
| Price per 20 L | USD 0.25 |
| 1,500 L/day | Net USD 12.75/day; payback about 17 months |
| 3,000 L/day | Net USD 29.50/day; payback about 7 months |
| 5,000 L/day | Net USD 51.50/day; payback about 4 months |
| Opex | Power, filters, attendant, rent |
The difference between the three rows is not the machine. It is the site.
Where it goes wrong
| Risk | What to do about it |
|---|---|
| Contaminated source | Pretreatment plus a monthly lab test. Publish the result at the station. |
| Cash handling | Prepaid card or QR payment. Remove the cash box entirely. |
| Downtime | One spare pump, one spare membrane housing, and a 24-hour call number. |
Before you order
- Source water lab report
- Three-day footfall count
- Site lease and security plan
- Prepaid or QR payment system
- Thirty-day service route
- Spare pump and membrane on site
Questions buyers ask
Answers before you write.
How much water does a station need to sell?
Plan for at least 1,500 litres a day to cover costs, and 3,000 to pay back inside a year. Below 1,000 litres, a smaller unit or a different site is the better answer.
Do I need a technician?
One trained attendant can run the station. Filter changes and membrane checks should be done on a route by a technician, not by the attendant.
What is the maintenance cost?
Budget 8-12% of revenue for filters, power, consumables and service. Add site rent and the attendant's wage.
Run the numbers with us.
Send the model, the market and the price you think you can get. We will reply with the landed cost, the margin and the three assumptions that matter most.