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, @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.