In school-based WASH programming, reliability is everything.

A water system can be carefully installed. Tanks can be full. Filters can be working exactly as designed. But if a tap is broken, damaged, or stolen, access stops.

And in high-use urban school environments, taps take a beating.

Over the past several years – across Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Kolkata, and beyond – one insight has become increasingly clear: taps are among the most frequently strained components in institutional WASH systems.

That’s not a failure of commitment. It’s a design challenge. So we studied it.

Designing for Real World Use

The Durable Tap Project began with observation. Across operating environments, our teams saw recurring patterns:

• Seals failing under heavy daily use

• Corrosion and limescale degrading internal components

• Actuators breaking after repeated strain

• Theft motivated by scrap metal value

• Low-cost local taps not built for institutional-scale usage

In many markets, taps cost only a few dollars, but they are not engineered for thousands of daily interactions by children in busy public schools. Rather than treat that as routine maintenance, we treated it as an opportunity for redesign.

From Observation to Innovation

With support from long-standing partners, we launched a focused engineering effort to develop a theft- and tamper-resistant tap built specifically for school environments. A multidisciplinary team of mechanical engineers, design engineers, and product designers, bringing experience from organizations such as Dyson, Kohler, Elvie, and Engineers Without Borders, was assembled to rethink the tap from first principles.

The brief was clear. Design a tap that:

• Discourages casual theft by hand

• Reduces scrap-metal value as an incentive

• Maintains hygiene and ease of use

• Can be removed responsibly at end-of-life

• Remains cost-effective and scalable

The solution didn’t require a heavier tap. In the end, the answer was smarter geometry.

Subtle but critical refinements, like a domed knob to reduce leverage, stepped transitions that prevent slipping onto the spout, optimized grip patterns, and improved wall separation, significantly reduce the ability to tamper with or remove the tap without tools. At the same time, the team optimized part counts, specified durable yet cost-effective materials, and designed for manufacturability at scale. The resulting product is designed for real life, in real schools.

Engineering for Scale

Durability is not only a technical feature, it’s also a scaling strategy. Infrastructure that fails prematurely increases maintenance costs, disrupts service delivery, and erodes confidence among schools and government partners. Infrastructure that lasts strengthens trust and protects investment.

The next phase of the Durable Tap Project includes manufacturing-equivalent prototypes and accelerated life testing, simulating approximately two years of high-frequency use. Environmental variables such as corrosion exposure, dust, and water quality are incorporated into the testing protocols.

The goal is simple: Design once. Deploy widely. Maintain minimally.

Why It Matters

It is easy to see a tap as a minor part of a larger system. But in a school setting, it is the final point of delivery in a public health intervention. When taps fail:

• Handwashing routines are interrupted

• Drinking water access is delayed

• Girls managing their periods face additional barriers

• Students leave classrooms to search for alternatives

• Confidence in the system weakens

Behavior change depends on consistency. If water flows reliably every day, habits form. If access is intermittent, habits erode. For children, that consistency affects health outcomes, attendance, dignity, and focus in the classroom. For partners and long-term investors, durability represents stewardship. Every dollar invested in WASH infrastructure should generate years, not months, of reliable impact. Component-level failures shorten that timeline. Designing for durability protects public health gains, school attendance, government confidence, long-term capital investment, and system credibility at scale. Durability is about resilience. And resilience is what allows systems to grow.

Iteration is Strength

Across the WASH sector, too many systems degrade quietly over time. Addressing that reality requires more than installation, it requires refinement. When we identify stress points, we redesign. When we observe patterns, we respond. When components fail, we improve them. The Durable Tap Project reflects this philosophy.

Because when taps hold up, water flows.

And when water flows – consistently – students stay healthy, stay in class, and build habits that last far beyond the schoolyard.