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In 2012 the Oxford research team started a trial in Kenya where hand pumps in 60 villages were fitted with data transmitters. The idea was they would monitor the motion of the pump and the amount of water extracted on an hourly basis - if the pump wasn't working, a message was sent to a repair company and workers were dispatched to fix the problem.
Now the scientists have found another way to interpret the data from the accelerometers fitted to the pump handles. They discovered that when the water is being drawn from a deep aquifer, it produces different vibrations than when the liquid comes from a shallow one.
"It's quite a simple and elegant solution to estimating groundwater and how it varies over time," co-author Dr Rob Hope from Oxford's School of Geography and the Environment told BBC News.
Farah E. Colchester et al, Accidental infrastructure for groundwater monitoring in Africa. Environmental Modelling & Software. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364815216308325
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @08:17PM (21 children)
Is that really what's been missing this whole time? Sensors on hand pumps?
Please, someone inform me: Why can't Africa in particular (and humanity in general) get its shit together?
I read stuff like this, and it does NOT give me hope; it just makes me feel like nothing will ever get better. It's all so stupid.
(Score: 2, Informative) by charon on Monday February 27 2017, @08:44PM (13 children)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 27 2017, @08:51PM (2 children)
Not difficult, not impossible - economically unviable in the target area.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday February 28 2017, @06:42PM (1 child)
Out here in the real world, "economically unviable" is usually the single largest difficulty there is. Hell, we could probably even colonize another star system if we were willing to dedicate 99% of the global GDP to that goal for a few decades.
If you want to change the (developing) world, forget about physics, *maybe* you can find a clever engineering solution, but your biggest chance of success will be in looking for clever business models that make "boring" things economically viable.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 28 2017, @09:16PM
If we had dedicated anything > 9% of _global_ GDP to space exploration and colonization/travel since 1970, we'd have probes on their way to exoplanets already, and permanent residencies beyond Earth orbit.
Instead, I think we're dedicating > 9% of global GDP to "defense," "security," and outright wars.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @08:54PM
I don't care what they're findings are here. I'm just amazed that ANYONE went to the trouble of installing sensors or hand pumps. Who is paying for such BULLSHIT?!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @09:03PM (8 children)
Different AC here. I'm tempted to mod GP +1 Agree.
Why do there need to be sensors on water pump handles in order to enable maintenance? Especially why do there need to be sensors with that kind of precision on water pumps?!
There's a rustic campground I like to camp at that has manual water pumps. They don't need smart text everything to keep them maintained. Either a ranger will catch the problem when he's making his rounds or somebody will report a problem to the office (or flag down the ranger, etc). These pumps are not essential to quality of life for a whole community. Imagine how much quicker a problem would be reported to the authority/manager/etc responsible if they were. All this can happen without a single cell tower.
Why are we treating Kenyans like dumb animals? (Please, no chimpout or Obama jokes.)
I would be beside myself if the cloud knew whenever I pumped myself a bucket of water at that campground. The sheer arrogance of whoever thought of this solution... to presume that Kenyans are unable to reporting broken equipment... to presume that they must be essentially radio-collared like animals... that's what personally causes me distress at this story.
I don't know... maybe they are. If they are, I'm even more distressed.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday February 28 2017, @12:10AM (6 children)
Yeap, sure, how dare they install, for every pump, sensors one can buy at under $1 in retail [aliexpress.com]?
And what would be the usefulness of knowing how deep the underground water table is and map afterwards an entire region? Either there is water or there isn't - there's nothing extra knowledge can do.
Instead of knowledge, we should have a little faith; in fact the more faith the better - faith creates water when needed.
No, seriously, it can be so much better to give every villager a mobile phone to call the technician when needed, this way we can help the bottom line of some big mobile manufacturers, the international stock exchanges will be grateful.
Besides, the life of villagersi will be highly improved, those mobile phones will bring the ultimate experience of Flappy Bird and Candy Crush into their life. They'll be even able to watch the Oscars.
Now, see?, this is progress-done-right.
Listen to the mighty AC camper, he has extensive experience... sensors are not needed. Dixit!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:04AM (5 children)
> No, seriously, it can be so much better to give every villager a mobile phone to call the technician when needed,
Actually... Feature phones have been a driving engine for improvement in africa. They help farmers find better prices for their crops. They help people find jobs outside of their villages. They help to get medical services to patients. They help people do mobile banking. Etc. So if they could afford it, it probably would be a lot better.
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21711511-mobile-phones-are-transforming-africa-where-they-can-get-signal-mobile-phones [economist.com]
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/08/africa-calling-mobile-phone-broadband-revolution-transform-democracies [theguardian.com]
http://www.oafrica.com/mobile/mobile-first-why-mobile-phones-are-transforming-lives-in-africa/ [oafrica.com]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/footnote/how-mobile-banking-is-tra_b_12944438.html [huffingtonpost.com]
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/13/world/africa/mobile-phones-change-africa/ [cnn.com]
http://allafrica.com/stories/200809180986.html [allafrica.com]
http://www.aefjn.org/index.php/archive-381/articles/cell-phones-make-life-easier-in-africa.html [aefjn.org]
https://10innovations.alumniportal.com/africas-mobile-revolution.html [alumniportal.com]
http://citizen.co.za/your-life/your-life-technology/813880/cellphones-are-transforming-africa/ [citizen.co.za]
http://pulse.com.gh/telecom/transformation-how-cell-phones-in-africa-are-becoming-more-than-communication-devices-id4352211.html [pulse.com.gh]
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/mobilizing-a-revolution/ [harvard.edu]
https://www.aho.afro.who.int/en/blog/2015/03/10/mobile-health-transforming-face-health-service-delivery-african-region [who.int]
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/why-mobile-phones-make-a-difference-to-healthcare/ [globalcitizen.org]
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/africas-mobile-phone-e-learning-transformation/2007120.article [timeshighereducation.com]
http://qz.com/625258/more-phones-few-banks-and-years-of-instability-are-transforming-somalia-to-a-cashless-society/ [qz.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:19AM (4 children)
I'm not diminishing the importance of communication means for Africa. But...
And if they aren't copying with the everyday life, would you rather spend money on mobile phones rather than creating survival conditions? (see hierarchy of human needs [wikipedia.org]).
Can you make a difference between the initial investment for "200 phones/village" vs "1 sensor+1 mobile/village" to solve the water pump maintenance problem?
Once they are no longer in a precarious survival condition, you can step on the higher level of needs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @04:24AM (3 children)
On what basis have you decided that they couldn't afford it?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday February 28 2017, @04:54AM (2 children)
The only reason they installed a manual water pump must be that they really want to preserve some sort of traditional authenticity, to attract tourists, right? Right???
Otherwise, all the other necessities are solved; the only problem for them still remaining is their participation into agricultural futures exchange through SAFEX/AMD [wikipedia.org], for which they certainly need mobiles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:19PM (1 child)
The only reason they installed a manual water pump must be that they really want to preserve some sort of traditional authenticity, to attract tourists, right? Right???
Simplicity means less failure modes. If a manual pump gets the job done with the fewest problems, that's not a cost-savings choice, its an effectiveness choice.
But you go ahead and assume the stupidest interpretation that supports your preconceived biases rather than make a rational evaluation. You're just as good at it as VLM, mighty butthead, runaway, etc...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:41PM
I see you relish living with hypotheticals. Every man to his taste, who am I to object.
And having a sensor+wireless modem+small solar panel for less than $20-$30/pump to measure the water table level over a large area is a waste, right?
Thanks, I'm striving, nice to see I'm getting recognition from an AC (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 28 2017, @12:23AM
There need to be sensors because the people who use the handpumps can't be bothered to report back to the people who supply the handpumps when they break - they're too busy schlepping to the next water hole so they don't die of thirst.
The people that supply the hand pumps can't be bothered to visit them on a regular basis due to cost of the trip, potential dangers, etc.
It may seem crazy, but once you've gone to the trouble to install a sensor on a handpump and get a satlink out for the data, you might as well put on a good sensor.
It may sound expensive, but when you consider the cost of a visit to every handpump installed, the sensors are cheaper, and the sensors can direct you to the pumps that need visiting first, so you're doing much more good with a limited budget.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by nobu_the_bard on Monday February 27 2017, @08:56PM (6 children)
This is part of them getting it together. According to the article, at any given time, 1/3 of the pumps are in some failure state, and it sometimes takes a month to get a repair crew dispatched. I assume part of that has to do with poor communications of some sort, and that is what this was originally aimed at solving. The system doesn't count on the villagers to report the problem.
It'd be interesting to know why they can't count on the people using the pumps to report when they are broken. No tools to communicate with the authorities that repair them, perhaps?
It's interesting that they found it provides some unexpected benefits though, and that the devices they dispatched have a way to sense this. I wonder why the phones have accelerometers, though? Was that how it originally was designed to operate, to use those to detect the problem? I didn't have a chance to look through the papers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @10:05PM (3 children)
>It'd be interesting to know why they can't count on the people using the pumps to report when they are broken.
Probably for similar reasons as why you can't rely on users to report bugs - some will think someone else must already have reported the problem, some will fear being accused of having broken it themselves or being too dumb to use it, some will devise absurd workarounds until the system is completely broken, some will make it somebody else's problem (by just telling a subordinate/child to bring water even if it involves walking to a neighboring village with an intact pump)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @11:53PM
You know who cares about the users who suffer software bugs? The people being paid by those users to care for those users; caring for people is a service.
Not only is nobody paying me to care, but you are also suggesting that these people themselves don't even care enough about the problems.
So... FUCK 'EM! We don't need them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @10:41AM (1 child)
You oughta hear the ruckus around here when the coffee machine malfunctions ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @05:50AM
Oh, we know exactly what's been happening with your coffee machine. We have recordings going back to the '90s. Also video.
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Tuesday February 28 2017, @01:39AM (1 child)
It'd be interesting to know why they can't count on the people using the pumps to report when they are broken. No tools to communicate with the authorities that repair them, perhaps?
Likely a good guess--or maybe that their pay is so low that they buy cell time in seconds, or can't afford to pay someone to charge their phones with a bicycle and a car battery?
or, as someone said upthread, maybe they live so close to the edge that if the pump is out, they immediately have to start off for the next village in the hopes of finding a working pump--and maybe they don't carry their phones around with them--if you only can afford seconds of time, you don't want to waste them inadvertently butt-dialing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @07:56AM
Is this a variant of the problem we have here in California trying to maintain public toilets?
Seems like every time a toilet is provided in some "bad areas", it is quickly destroyed.