Alan Perez Lopez, water system treasurer, heads out on his monthly journey to visit every family in his community of Rincon de Garcia. A journey that will bring him and the rest of his community leadership team to 52 homes. It will take them all day – at least. Alan and his team will monitor the water usage of every family by reading their individual meter and then administer a bill based upon this assessment. This system is all done by hand, using a data table, receipt notepads, and a notebook.
This same process repeats itself in each of our communities with water systems. Community leaders go out on these billing visits every month to ensure transparency, ownership of the water system, and precise measurement of water usage.
This system works. We know that from the 17 communities it is currently serving. However, as our projects and communities continue to grow, we are seeing the need for integrated technology. Two of our core foundations at Amigos are to pursue growth and strive for excellence. We believe in dreaming big and using our talents, resources, and creativity to ultimately better live out our mission and vision.
Water Perfect, an app currently being developed by Amigos, will allow us to do just that. This app will be utilized to store all information regarding the water usage of each individual home, how much families are paying, and how much money each community should have in order to sustain the water pump. Right now, all of this information is stored in a notebook. But with Water Perfect, all of this data will be easily accessible by Amigos and community leadership teams in order to build more precise water systems and help leaders manage their budget as a business.
Our dream is that Alan and every other community leader will utilize Water Perfect during these monthly billing rituals. Instead of notebooks, they will take a tablet and a portable printer on each house visit. With the data from Water Perfect, a bill will be printed for each family. On the back of the bill, there will be information regarding the system-wide usage and billing. Each community member will be able to see how much money has been collected, how much money was used to pay the energy bill for the well pump, and how much money is left in the bank. Water Perfect will empower complete transparency and a high level of efficiency for our leadership teams.
“We want community members to receive these improved bills and be able to make smarter decisions for their families, utilizing budgeting. It all comes back to the pursuit of thriving, not just surviving. We also want community members to have complete understanding, trust, and confidence in their community leaders. This type of confidence allows for true transformation,” John Bland said.
