Decentral Water Supply: Our Concept – Designed under Gold Standard

In many rural regions of the Global South, the idea of drinking straight from the tap is still a distant dream. Families fetch water from rivers, ponds or hand pumps, and often have no choice but to drink from unsafe sources. Boiling water over open fires is the only protection they know – and it comes at a high price: time, health, deforestation and CO₂ emissions.

At Grasshopper Investments, we have developed a decentral water supply concept that tackles all of this at once:clean and safe drinking water for remote, poor and indigenous communities – financed through climate protection and designed under the Gold Standard for the Global Goals.

Why decentral solutions are needed

Central water infrastructure – large plants, long pipelines, complex networks – is essential for cities. But in remote rural regions with scattered villages, difficult terrain and very low incomes, this model often reaches its limits:

• The distances are long, the number of people per kilometre of pipe is low.

• Public budgets are limited, and investments tend to flow first into urban centres.

• Households cannot afford connection fees or user charges that would finance conventional systems.

The result:people continue to drink from unsafe sources, women and children spend hours each day collecting water and fuelwood, and forests are cut down to boil contaminated water.

A different logic is needed – one that brings safe water to people where they are, without waiting for a full-scale central infrastructure rollout and without placing financial burdens on the poorest.

Our concept: Safe drinking water – paid for by climate protection

Our decentral model starts with a very clear objective:

Provide safe drinking water free of charge to the poorest households – and let climate finance pay for it.

The core idea is simple:

1. Household-level water treatment

   A robust, low-threshold treatment technology is used to turn locally available water into safe drinking water at household or village level – without the need for major construction.
   

2. Replacing traditional boiling

   Instead of boiling water over firewood, families use this treatment solution. This avoids large amounts of CO₂ emissions, because the firewood is no longer burned for water purification.
   

3. Gold Standard methodology

   The avoided emissions are quantified according to a water-related Gold Standard methodology and certified as carbon credits under Gold Standard for the Global Goals.
   

4. Climate revenues finance water

   The sale of these high-quality carbon credits generates the revenues needed to finance the entire decentral water supply system: technology, logistics, local staff, monitoring and long-term operation.

The logic is reversed compared to many “base of the pyramid” models:there is no selling of products to poor households, no microfinance, no debt and no donations campaign. The service is free at the point of use – the financing comes from international climate protection.

Designed under Gold Standard – what that means in practice

Gold Standard is one of the most recognised certification bodies for climate and SDG projects worldwide. Its framework for water- and climate-related activities combines: (globalgoals.goldstandard.org)

• robust accounting of emission reductions,

• strict safeguards for human rights and local communities,

• requirements for gender equality and women’s empowerment,

• and a clear contribution to multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Designing our decentral water concept under Gold Standard means:

• The climate impact (avoided CO₂ from reduced firewood use) is measured conservatively and independently verified.
  

• The social and environmental safeguards are checked: no harm to indigenous communities, no negative impact on forests or biodiversity.
  

• The project must generate co-benefits beyond climate – in our case: safe water, forest protection, biodiversity, women’s empowerment and poverty reduction.

For investors, this provides an important level of confidence:you are not only financing carbon credits, but a structured, audited programme that links climate finance to essential basic services in a transparent way.

How it works on the ground

The first implementation of this concept is taking place in the Central Tribal Belt of India – one of the structurally poorest and at the same time ecologically most sensitive regions of the country. The area is home to millions of indigenous people and several protected forest and tiger reserves.

Key elements of the on-the-ground setup:

• Village-based supply

  The project is rolled out village by village. Households register and receive ongoing access to safe drinking water through the decentral concept.
  

• No user fees

  For the families, the water is free of charge – for many years. They do not buy water, they do not rent equipment, and they do not take out loans.
  

• Local implementation partners

  Local staff and health workers (such as ASHA workers in India) support households, organise refilling routines and act as a bridge between the project and the community.
  

• Scale and reach

  After an intensive development phase, the project has already reached more than 100 villages and tens of thousands of people – with the potential to scale to many more communities across the region.

The model is inherently modular: once the structures are in place in one cluster of villages, they can be replicated in neighbouring areas with similar conditions.

Impact beyond water

Although drinking water is the central focus, the concept was designed from the outset as a water–climate–biodiversity–social project:

• Climate

  Replacing traditional water boiling with a modern solution significantly reduces the use of firewood. This cuts CO₂ emissions and pressure on forests.
  

• Forests & biodiversity

  Less firewood collection helps protect surrounding forests – and with them, habitats for wildlife in the tribal belt, including tiger reserves and other sensitive ecosystems.
  

• Women’s empowerment & time savings

  In many villages, women are responsible for collecting water and firewood. Safer water close to home reduces their workload, frees time for education and income activities, and improves health conditions.
  

• Poverty reduction and health

  Fewer water-borne diseases mean fewer medical expenses and fewer days lost to illness – a significant factor in very low-income settings.

This combination of clean water, climate benefits and social co-benefits is exactly what Gold Standard aims to capture and certify – and what makes the project highly relevant for impact-oriented investors.

Why this matters for investors

For investors in Europe, decentral rural water supply may seem far away from typical infrastructure or fixed-income products. But from a portfolio perspective, this concept offers several attractive features:

• Clear additionality

  Without climate finance, these communities would simply continue to boil unsafe water over firewood – there is no alternative funding model on the table.
  

• Transparent impact link

  Each unit of climate finance is directly connected to real people gaining access to safe drinking water, and to measurable CO₂ reductions.
  

• Scalability

  The model is designed to be replicated across many villages and regions with similar conditions – creating the basis for programme-based financing instead of small one-off projects.
  

• Diversification within the water theme

  In addition to large central infrastructure projects, decentral solutions add a different risk–return and impact profile to an overall water strategy.

For Grasshopper, this decentral concept is one of two complementary pillars:

• central water infrastructure based on modular technology, and

• decentral solutions like this Gold-Standard-designed water–climate project for rural regions.

Together, they create a coherent investment story:water as an underrepresented but essential asset class, with opportunities ranging from major public infrastructure to innovative, climate-financed solutions for the poorest communities.