Max TapWater delivers safe, piped water at the doorstep through small mini-grids run by local entrepreneurs, and is built to prove that reliable water supply can be a viable business.

Only about 4.5% of households in rural and peri-urban Bangladesh have a piped water connection, leaving well over 100 million people to collect and store water by other means. That makes safe water habits harder to keep, clean water is needed not only for drinking but for cooking, washing and hygiene throughout the day.

Max Foundation’s experience is clear: families want piped water at home, and many are willing to pay for it. The gap is not desire but delivery, and where there is real demand and willingness to pay, there is also a market waiting to be built.

4.5%

of households have a piped connection

rural and peri-urban Bangladesh

100M+

people without piped water at home

across Bangladesh

Willing to pay

Families want piped water at home and will pay for a reliable supply. The gap is delivery, not demand, and that is what makes a market possible.

Figures from programme analysis.

Max TapWater grew out of Max Foundation’s water work as a social enterprise with a scalable model: small piped mini-grids that deliver water to the doorstep, operated by local entrepreneurs and paid for by the households they serve. The aim is to prove the business case so the model can grow well beyond what grant funding alone could reach.

Small piped mini-grids

Each mini-grid draws, treats and distributes water through household connections in a defined service area, infrastructure sized to a community rather than a city, so it can be built and maintained locally.

Operated by local entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs run the grids as businesses, earning revenue from the households they serve and taking responsibility for reliability and maintenance, the reason supply continues without ongoing subsidy.

Water to the doorstep

Piped water at home makes safe water habits far easier to keep, supporting hygiene and child health across every domestic use, not just drinking.

Proving the business case

By testing pricing, financing and results-based approaches, Max TapWater is building the evidence that safe water supply can be commercially viable, and therefore scalable.

These are cumulative figures to date. Max TapWater built 41 new grids in 2025, and continues to grow its network of doorstep connections across Bangladesh.

98

water mini-grids built

to date

21,548

people with safe piped water

to date

2,571

families connected at home

to date

41

new grids in a single year

in 2025

Behind the infrastructure are the families and entrepreneurs for whom a tap at home changes daily life.