Smart handpumps: technical aspects of a one-year field trial in rural Kenya

A team from Oxford University conducted a 12-month `smart handpump` trial in Kenya in 2013, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID), which tested a new maintenance model for rural handpump services. The service was based around the availability of information on handpump usage and functionality, generated by a GSM transmitter installed within the pump handle. For this trial, a version of the hardware and software was produced, that had to be operational in the field for a year, but produced with limited resources. The trial (67 community pumps) lead to a reduction in pump outage times from an average of 27 days per-trial to under three. This paper discusses some of the design decisions made and lessons learnt during the trial.