'Smart meters' for rural water supply in sub-Saharan Africa

[EPSRC areas: Water engineering, ICT networks, Sensors]
Aims to investigate the performance and sustainable implementation of a novel smart-meter based rural water distribution system in sub-Saharan Africa (eWater). This novel ICT technology, deployed in three sub-Saharan African countries, remotely reports monitoring data in real-time and allows for fair pre-payment of water by rural users. In this project it is used as a novel monitoring instrument to help improve water service delivery.
The project:
-Tests the robustness of the technology regarding flow rate degradation with debris build-up, and the accuracy of the flow rate sensor measurement, using a custom laboratory setup, which helps develop field-calibration protocols. This is based on high-accuracy flow rate measurements.
-Evaluates the impact of the technology on users, service providers, and access to clean water within the socio-economic context in rural communities in Tanzania, using in-depth survey and interview methods (three month fieldwork).
-Generates new understandings of water collection patterns in rural communities (e.g. time of day, distance of travel, location of water point) by combining the remotely collected data from the meters with user interviews.
-Generates novel pricing management techniques for tech-for-development by using the remotely collected data to discover of relationships between weather and volume of clean water collected in rural communities (Tanzania and The Gambia). This involves multiyear time series analysis of smart-meter, rainfall (3 x satellite estimates) and temperature data.
-Develops understanding of how this type of technological innovation can best operate in rural settings, for broader policy/practitioner community.