Using smart pumps to help deliver universal access to safe and affordable drinking water

Swan, Andrew; Cooper, Nathan; Gamble, Will; Pritchard, Martin

doi:10.1680/jensu.16.00013

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…The MANTIS system was developed around five key principles (i.e. of simplicity, ease of deployment, longevity, low cost and minimal data collection), which sought to address the opportunities and challenges highlighted by previous studies (Swan et al, 2017). In terms of functionality, the MANTIS system infers the operational status of the water pump by monitoring pump usage patterns.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field trials of a new monitoring system for water pumps in Sierra Leone and The Gambia

Swan¹,

Skipworth²,

Walker³

et al. 2018

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water Manag

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Many hand water pumps across Sub-Saharan Africa break down prematurely and remain out of service for significant periods of time. This issue has been well documented, with reports suggesting that between 20% and 65% of hand pumps in a number of African countries are broken. It has also been reported that broken hand pumps in this region have represented between $1.2 and $1.5 billion of ineffective investment over the last twenty years. Regular post-construction monitoring of remote water pumps can help address these problems. However, in many instances traditional monitoring programmes require regular site visits to remote locations, which can delay the implementation of repairs and place heavy time and resource demands on supervisory bodies. In response there has been an emerging interest in the use of mobile phone based technologies to monitor water pumps. The authors describe a new monitoring system, called MANTIS (Monitoring & ANalytics To Improve Service), which is intended to be a context-appropriate monitoring tool for hand pumps in developing regions. The paper introduces field trials of this system

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field trials of a new monitoring system for water pumps in Sierra Leone and The Gambia

Swan¹,

Skipworth²,

Walker³

et al. 2018

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water Manag

Self Cite

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“…These systems do not interfere with user experience or maintenance: Oxford University's accelerometer‐based system is connected solely to the pump handle and the MANTIS system to the pump head cover, both parts that are easily removed and set aside during maintenance. The main advantage of monitoring the pump itself is that, while knowing the volume of water pumped is certainly useful and an intuitive way to present pump use patterns, the main reason for remote monitoring is to support pump maintenance (Swan, Cooper, et al, 2017; Thomson et al, 2012a). A direct measure of pump use—or lack of use—may better inform a mechanic than the volume of water being pumped.…”

Section: Automated Remote Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote monitoring of rural water systems: A pathway to improved performance and sustainability?

Thomson

2020

WIREs Water

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The presence of the mobile phone network in rural areas where there is little other infrastructure has opened up the prospect of automatically monitoring rural water systems, something previously possible only in person and perhaps only on foot. The technology to monitor these systems continues to develop: basic systems are now leaving research and being implemented in operational WASH programs; machine learning is making pump failure prediction possible. With the move from the previous infrastructure‐focused community management paradigm, to a service‐delivery approach to rural water, remote monitoring has salience with its potential to inform professional maintenance services. This is not without cost. To justify its use in rural water service delivery remote monitoring must generate benefits for service providers: (1) it must be integrated into management systems, and help redesign them; (2) it must contribute to increases in performance that produce real improvement in outcomes for water users; (3) it must open up new transparent sources of funding previously unavailable to the rural water sector. If remote monitoring can do these three things it has a role to play in achieving SDG 6.1; if not it will join the list of development techno‐fixes that failed to make an impact despite the best of intentions. This article is categorized under: Human Water > Human Water

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“…Whilst, another recent report has claimed that between 30 to 40% of rural water systems are failing prematurely (USAid, 2016). It has been estimated that some 62 million people, across this region, are impacted by broken water infrastructure (Swan et al, 2017).…”

Section: Broken Water Pumpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is demonstrated by the emergence of an array of new technologies for monitoring water pumps in developing regions, most notably the SWEETSense (Thomas et al, 2013;Nagel et al, 2015), SMART pumps (Thomson et al, 2012;Behar et al, 2013), Dispatch monitor (charity: water, 2015) and MoMo projects (WellDone, 2017). These systems utilise a range of remote measurement approaches, including the use of accelerometers, pressure transducers or flow sensors (Swan et al, 2017). ).…”

Section: Sms and Gprs)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Field testing a remote monitoring system for hand water pumps

Swan

Skipworth

Walker

et al. 2018

Water Practice and Technology

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Throughout Africa, many hand water pumps malfunction and remain inoperable for long periods of time. Previous studies from a number of sub-Saharan countries have indicated that in some regions up to 65% of hand pumps may be broken. It is reported that robust monitoring of remote water pumps can help address some of these problems. However, traditional project monitoring strategies generally rely on physical site visits to remote locations. These visits can be time consuming and resource intensive, which in turn may delay the implementation of pump repairs. In contrast, recent years have seen the emergence of a range of new monitoring technologies that use mobile phone networks to rapidly report the operational status of water projects from remote sites. The authors describe the development of a new monitoring system, called MANTIS, which is intended for hand pumps in developing regions. The paper presents data from early field trials of MANTIS in Sierra Leone and The Gambia. The unit relays ‘near real time’ operational data from the water pump to an accessible online platform.

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Using smart pumps to help deliver universal access to safe and affordable drinking water

Cited by 8 publications

References 10 publications

Field trials of a new monitoring system for water pumps in Sierra Leone and The Gambia

Field trials of a new monitoring system for water pumps in Sierra Leone and The Gambia

Remote monitoring of rural water systems: A pathway to improved performance and sustainability?

Field testing a remote monitoring system for hand water pumps

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