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Welcome to Drop Drop

The Mobile App for Saving Water in Cape Town

Drop Drop is a mobile app that runs on Android & iOS smart phones, and is free to download. With the app you can store and review information on your daily water usage, get a prediction of your monthly water bills, learn how to read your water meter, save water and contact your municipality.


The application was produced with a focus on making water management in your household easy, without you having to purchase or install additional devices or incur large data costs. All you have to do is download the free app,find your water meter and start saving!

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Will you help Cape Town keep saving water? Guinea pigs needed!

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Save water while contributing to valuable research into Cape Town's drought
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We are running a research project to test how effective the Drop Drop app is at helping people continue to save water at home, and we need people who are willing to sign up as research participants.


To join us, you will need to:

  • Be over 18 years old

  • Be living in Cape Town

  • Have access to an Apple or Android mobile phone

  • Have access to the water meter at your house

  • Be willing to answer an introductory and conclusion questionnaire online

Home: About

Features List

Free, Unlimited Access is a Download Away

Person Checking Data

Track Your Water Use Trends

Read your water meter and save the records to the app to keep track of whether you are meeting your targets.
You can even estimate what your monthly water bill will be, and find out how different actions will help to save you money and conserve water.

Piles of Books

Learn About Water via our Online Library

Our app is full of useful how-to guides and information, from fixing a tap, to reading your water meter, to how to safely use grey-water in your home.
We also provide links to a variety of additional, more in-depth articles available online through the City of Cape Town's website.

Using a Touch Phone

Valuable Contacts

We can tell you who you need to speak with at the City of Cape Town to report a leak or to apply for an extended limit for your water management device, and point you to a list of registered plumbers and borehole installers.

Home: App Features
Man Trying App

Frequently Asked Questions

Home: FAQ

How much does it cost to use Drop Drop?

Drop Drop is free to download and use. The only cost you will incur is the data required for the download and saving your water meter readings, which is very marginal. The development of the app was paid for through the Water Research Commission of South Africa.

What will you do with my data?

All of the data you save on the app will be stored securely and not shared with anyone, ever. As the app is a research prototype, we will use data that you input into the app, as well as other general usage data, to help us understand how to improve the app.

I need help - I don't understand how to use the app!

We are sorry that you are struggling... it is a work-in-progress research prototype so there are some aspects that are a bit rough around the edges. We will be happy to guide you through the process - just send us a note using the form below and one of our team members will get in touch to help.

Who We Are

iCOMMs : Information for Community Services

Drop Drop was developed by the iCOMMS Team, led by Professor Ulrike Rivett, at the University of Cape Town. iCOMMS is comprised of multi-disciplinary researchers who are truly dedicated to promoting positive  change within communities. This is achieved through various projects and initiatives where  technologies such as mobile phones and apps are used to facilitate the improvement of service delivery at community level.

Home: About Us

Get In Touch

We’re happy to hear from you about your experiences using Drop Drop, or any questions about our research.

Thanks for submitting!

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Drop Drop Privacy Policy

iComms built the Drop Drop app as an Open Source app. This SERVICE is provided by iComms at no cost and is intended for use as is. This page is used to inform visitors regarding our policies with the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information if anyone decided to use our Service.

If you choose to use our Service, then you agree to the collection and use of information in relation to this policy. The Personal Information that we collect is used for providing and improving the Service, and for research into the use of mobile technology to conserve water. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy.

Information Collection and Use

For a better experience, while using our Service, we may require you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information, including but not limited to your email address, name and water meter readings. The information that we request will be retained by us and used as described in this privacy policy.

The app does use third party services that may collect information used to identify you.

Link to privacy policy of third party service providers used by the app


Log Data

We want to inform you that whenever you use our Service, in a case of an error in the app we collect data and information (through third party products) on your phone called Log Data. This Log Data may include information such as your device Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, device name, operating system version, the configuration of the app when utilizing our Service, the time and date of your use of the Service, and other statistics.


Confidentiality

Your information will be used to conduct academic research into the role of ICTs in conservation of water. Your information will not be used for any other purposes but to observe water consumption and will not be shared with anyone. In all research publications, all participants will be anonymized and neither names nor suburbs will be disclosed. All personal data about individuals and households will be kept strictly confidential.


Cookies

Cookies are files with a small amount of data that are commonly used as anonymous unique identifiers. These are sent to your browser from the websites that you visit and are stored on your device's internal memory.

This Service does not use these “cookies” explicitly. However, the app may use third party code and libraries that use “cookies” to collect information and improve their services. You have the option to either accept or refuse these cookies and know when a cookie is being sent to your device. If you choose to refuse our cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of this Service.


Service Providers

We may employ third-party companies and individuals due to the following reasons:

  • To facilitate our Service;

  • To provide the Service on our behalf;

  • To perform Service-related services; or

  • To assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

We want to inform users of this Service that these third parties have access to your Personal Information. The reason is to perform the tasks assigned to them on our behalf. However, they are obligated not to disclose or use the information for any other purpose.


Security

We value your trust in providing us your Personal Information, thus we are striving to use commercially acceptable means of protecting it. But remember that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and reliable, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.


Links to Other Sites

This Service may contain links to other sites. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that site. Note that these external sites are not operated by us. Therefore, we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of these websites. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.


Children’s Privacy

These Services do not address anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 18. In the case we discover that a child under 18 has provided us with personal information, we immediately delete this from our servers. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we will be able to do necessary actions.


Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Thus, you are advised to review this page periodically for any changes. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. These changes are effective immediately after they are posted on this page.


Contact Us

If you have any questions or suggestions about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us.

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