Wayout and Vision Madagascar launch partnership improving access to clean drinking water on Indian Ocean islands

Award-winning water tech company Wayout and real estate development company ViMa, Vision Madagascar, have agreed to collaborate to bring Wayout’s eco-friendly technology to the Indian Ocean Islands of Madagascar, Mauritius, La Mayotte, the Comoros and La Reunion.

The five islands, known as members of the Vanilla Islands, have risen to the challenge of securing drinking water to accelerate climate actions and contribute to sustainable development together with Wayout. The agreement includes the installation and operations of 30 Wayout systems to provide drinking water to hundreds of thousands of islanders and help solve Madagascar’s and the Indian Ocean Islands' many drinking water-related challenges, both upstream and downstream, such as water scarcity and water safety, as well as to create green jobs.

Wayout’s innovative system is developed to increase drinking water safety by improving drinking water quality, availability, accessibility, affordability, sustainability and ethicality. In addition, this innovative water purification, distribution, and dispensation system is developed to reduce the use of plastic bottles and the overall carbon footprint. A single Wayout system produces up to 18,000 liters of mineral water daily – enough to provide 9,000 people with their daily need for drinking water – while simultaneously preventing up to 13 million plastic bottles and 1,400 tons of CO₂ from entering the ecosystem yearly.

(Victoria Raharisaina, Koureich Fidahoussen, Ulf Stenerhag, Zouzar Bouka, Martin Renck, Thomas Strandin)

The agreement identifies four priority areas for strategic collaboration; to provide the highest quality affordable drinking water, to create local green jobs and business opportunities, to reduce the carbon footprint of long-distance water transport, and to reduce terrestrial and marine plastic pollution.

"We are very proud to collaborate with Vision Madagascar and to contribute to their vision to ’Create a New Madagascar’ by giving people access to clean drinking water. Madagascar, Mauritius, La Mayotte, the Comoros and La Reunion currently have serious challenges around providing safe drinking water to their populations, so innovative models to improve water services, like this partnership, are needed for sustainable change. Bringing together public and private sector funding and ideas, together with local creative solutions, will positively impact the people on these beautiful islands", says Ulf Stenerhag, CEO of Wayout.

Vision Madagascar (ViMa) is a leader in land and real estate development in the region. ViMa also owns the first wood industry operating to FSC standards in Madagascar and is integral to developing a “New Madagascar” to take this vision to the surrounding island nations of Mauritius, La Mayotte, the Comoros and La Reunion.

“As the lead of ViMa, I am thrilled to partner with Wayout. The core of this ambitious project might be life-changing for the Indian Ocean island’s people. Climate risks are rising for our island nations, threatening social and economic development gains. The islands grapple with inadequate basic water services, infrastructure gaps, and environmental degradation. Amid these challenges, a partnership with a company like Wayout lies opportunities to build resilience and assure livability while limiting the carbon footprint.”, says Mr Zouzar Bouka, Chairman of ViMa

The agreement between Wayout and ViMA is worth 24 million USD, and the first systems will be deployed to Madagascar in 2023.

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