Dr Andrew Swan

The recent surge in global cell phone ownership has meant that many rural Africans now travel to local towns in order to recharge their cell phones. These recharging facilities are typically located within shops or informal businesses, and are often powered by a car battery or solar panel. Recent years have seen the emergence of other novel solutions for providing phone-charging infrastructure in remote regions. One such example has been the development of bicycle dynamos that recharge the cyclist’s cell phone whilst they pedal. This paper discusses the merits of a novel solution for recharging cell phones via the mechanical movements of a water hand pump, and the potential for income generation from local residents paying to recharge their cell phones to help fund the upkeep of the water point. Many water pumps installed on the African continent fall in to a state of disrepair because local communities have insufficient funds to keep them well maintained. The paper overviews the development of a ‘proof-of-concept’ prototype system for this purpose, and considers how this solution embodies a ‘commons’ theory of resource allocation and local owner/usership. Moreover, the potential to embed ‘commons thinking’ within one such low cost community-centered venture opens a wider debate about the role of commoning within the water and sanitation sector.

South Africa's groundbreaking constitution explicitly confers a right of access to sufficient water (section 27). But the country is officially 'water-stressed' and around 10 % of the population still has no access to on-site or off-site piped or tap water. It is evident that a disconnect exists between this right and the reality for many; however the reasons for the continuation of such discrepancies are not always clear. While barriers to sufficient water are myriad, one significant factor contributing to insufficient and unpredictable access to water is the high percentage of broken water pumps. Previous studies have reported that between 20 and 50 % of all hand operated water pumps installed on the African continent are broken, or out of use. Monitoring and maintenance of pumps, which in South Africa is the responsibility of local municipalities is often ineffective, in part due to the distances between municipal centres and rural communities and the consequent costs of site visits, as well as breakdowns within the local bureaucratic system. The emergence of new telemetry tools that can remotely monitor water applications constitutes a novel and cost-efficient alternative to undertaking regular sites visits. Sustainable, appropriate, low-cost telemetry systems are emerging that could be used to monitor the operational performance of water pumps, or a wide range of other field parameters, and to communicate this information swiftly and cheaply to water service providers, using SMS messages. Data on the performance of water pumps could also be made available to the public online. This is an example of how ICT can be used for water resources management and environmental regulation, as well as in the governance of socio-economic rights: helping to optimize water allocation by improving communication and strengthening accountability. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

This paper explores the relationship between increased urbanisation and subsequent capacity problems within drainage infrastructure. The respective merits of resolving these problems using: (i) ‘quick fix’ engineered solutions and (ii) long-term ‘planning-based’ remedial measures are investigated for a UK case study catchment. In the UK context a ‘quick fix’ approach would often involve the provision of in-sewer storage (e.g. a storage chamber or oversized sewer pipes) to store excess flows, releasing them back into the sewer later for subsequent conveyance to a treatment facility or outfall. SuDS retrofitting may represent an attractive alternative to this ‘hard engineering’ approach, but has proved difficult to implement under the UK’s current regulatory framework. A long-term ‘urban planning-based’ approach, on the other hand, involving the imposition of ‘pre-urbanised’ (greenfield), or even stricter, runoff restrictions to all new developments (or redevelopments) within urban areas could incrementally reduce the storm-water runoff entering the system over time. Historical maps are used to demonstrate how the case study catchment has become increasingly urbanised over the last 50 years; and a simple modelling exercise demonstrates how this process has been directly responsible for exacerbating the catchment’s flooding problems. The case study also demonstrates practical opportunities for reducing or resolving the flooding problems with ‘quick fix’ engineered solutions, retrofit options, and long-term ‘planning-based’ remedial measures. These issues are specifically illustrated for a UK case study containing known ‘surface water’ flooding problems, but parallels to the urban African context are drawn and discussed.

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 on- line platform.

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 that have been conducted in Sierra Leone and The Gambia. The unit relays ‘near real time’ operational data from the water pump via an SMS (Short Message Service) server to an accessible on-line platform.

The establishment of improved water supplies is one of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Many water schemes have provided wells and pumps to enhance the life of local communities across Africa. However, in numerous cases these schemes fail over time due to a lack of established maintenance regimes and trained staff. One of the ways that resilience might be improved is the introduction of remote monitoring systems to allow detection of not only failed pumps but to enable predictions of when a pump might fail without intervention, thus allowing the associated loss of service to be minimised, ensuring that the community is not without safe drinking water for extended periods. This paper pulls together the knowledge and details of the remote monitoring systems that are available in the field today and provides a coherent knowledge base of the work that is being done. The paper also reviews how each of the systems are compiled, their strengths and weaknesses and provides background knowledge that should encourage future research and development in the field. It also queries whether such systems, with their reliance on microprocessors are appropriate for the Global South.

Many people across the developing world live ‘off-grid’ in terms of access to mains electricity, and therefore depend upon alternative power sources to recharge their mobile phones. These recharging facilities are typically located in shops/informal businesses, and often powered by a diesel generator or solar panel. Many of these rural communities are also served by local water infrastructure that has fallen into a state of disrepair. It has been reported that many individuals are prepared to pay a small regular fee to recharge their mobile phone, whilst their wider communities may often claim to lack sufficient funds to keep their water infrastructure maintained. This paper introduces a pilot study in Gambia that combines an off-grid recharging hub with a community water point. It is proposed that a proportion of the income generated by this enterprise could be retained and used to fund the on-going maintenance costs of the recharging hub and the local water infrastructure.

This paper reviews potable water issues affecting river dwelling communities and assesses the use of Rainwater Harvesting techniques to help meet potable water requirements. The study specifically explores river communities on the periphery of the city of Belem, where there is no potable mains water supply. This interdisciplinary study reviews the socioeconomic context of the different organisational stakeholders as well as analysing technical data to ascertain the effectiveness of the systems in practice. Surveys indicate nearly half of residents consume water from sources potentially contaminated by raw sewage and mining effluent with detrimental impacts to public health. This paper reviews previous local studies and describes ongoing attempts to derive locally appropriate rainwater collection and treatment processes. This includes attempts to construct and trial organic material-based rainwater filters that comprise of different mixes of sand, gravel and activated carbon derived from by-products of local fruit processing industries, namely acai harvesting.

Across Sub-Saharan Africa many communities lack reliable access to mains electricity, and therefore depend upon unconventional power sources to recharge their mobile phones. Many of these informal recharging centres are powered by a diesel generator or solar panel. Furthermore, many of these same communities are frequently served by broken water pumps. Previous reports indicate that many individuals are prepared to pay a small regular fee to recharge their mobile phone, whilst their local water point committee lacks sufficient funds to keep their water infrastructure maintained. This paper presents a novel funding strategy aimed at helping communities cover the maintenance costs of their local water supply. This premise was demonstrated using a pilot system in Gambia which combined a solar powered community water point with an off-grid smart battery rental hub for everyday electricity needs such as mobile phone charging. The paper presents preliminary field data from this site and explores the wider context surrounding the pilot system.

This paper presents key findings from an ‘immersion’ that was undertaken in August 2017 on Paquetá and surrounding islands within the Amazon region of Brazil. In this research, immersion is understood as active participation in peoples’ lives over a period of time and supported by other methods including observation, semi-structured interviews and co-mapping. This research adapted the urban metabolism concept commonly used to assess levels of sustainability and resilience, for application to the context of peripheral river islands located in the Tocantins river near the Brazilian city of Belém. It specifically focuses on factors that impact on people’s behaviour in relation to water management, or what is described here as the ‘island water metabolism’. This includes geographic, seasonal, local governance and social dimensions as well as dependence on the rising and falling tides of the river.

This paper presents a case study from the Amazon region of Brazil that explores stakeholder influence over the design and implementation of rainwater harvesting systems. This explorative study is based on the application of Social Network Analysis (SNA). A series of interviews were undertaken with experts in the field and the data was coded and analysed. A stakeholder's map is presented in an attempt to summarise the study’s main findings and to graphically illustrate the key stakeholder influences. The primary outcome of this exercise was the identification of the key participants and challenges associated with the implementation of rainwater harvesting systems. This exercise also highlighted the lack of interaction between some stakeholders and the canalization of decision-making powers by a small number of agencies. The scope of the study was limited to a specific geographical region and is therefore context specific. Due to the constraints of this preliminary study, the full potential of SNA has not fully been explored in this analysis. The research has identified some redundancies with regards to the management of water in this region. It has also highlighted other issues associated with ‘lack of inclusion’ within the decision-making process and planning for the implementation of rainwater systems. The study is considered to be novel within this geographical region. The use of such methods to map stakeholders and to graphically represent influential relationships, as well as the identification of previously unseen key actors should aid future attempts to implement rainwater harvesting schemes within this context.

The dataset includes 39 questionnaire responses from water consumers in an Indian case study context. These were conducted as part of the MANTIS - Monitoring and ANalytics To Improve Service project.

Innovate UK Phase 1 MANTIS (Monitoring and ANalytics To Improve Service) Project, Work Package 2, Water Professional Interviews dataset

Purpose: This paper analyses the socio-political structural elements that influence the implementation of rainwater systems in Belem (Brazil). Methodological approach: The paper presents an explorative research based on the application of Social Network Analysis. Interviews were made to experts in the field and the data was codad and analyzed. A stakeholders map was made to summarize the information collected and visualize the identified factors Findings: The key finding is based on the identification of key players and issues in the implementation of rainwater systems; the absence of interaction with some of them and the canalization of decision making powers in few agencies. Research limitations: The scope of the study is limited to the region analyzed and consequently is context specific. Due to the limitations of the data collection in the field the full potential of SNA could not be explored in this analysis. Implications: The paper makes evident some of the redundancies in the management of water in the region. Also it makes evident issues related with lack of inclusion in the decision making process and planning for the implementation of rainwater systems in the region. In this sense, the paper can inform policy for the planning of the further expansion in the implementation of this source of clean water. Originality and value: This istudy if is the first of its kind in the region. The use of methods to map stakeholders and visualize the relations of influence, as well as the identification of previously unseen key actors is a contribution of great value for the planning of further expansion in the implementation of ain water systems in the region.

Across Brazil, including the water rich Amazon region, access to safe drinking water remains a challenge and rainwater harvesting has gained credibility as a technological solution. Complementing a more techno-centric approach, this practice paper analyses initial findings from an 'immersion' that was undertaken in August 2017 on Paquetá and surrounding islands located on the periphery of Belém (Schiffer and Swan, 2018), through the proposed urban island water metabolism framework. As such, the research draws on the 'urban metabolism' concept which can be described as socio-technical, socio-economic, socio-political and socio-ecological flows including water resources, people and information in, out and within the urban environment (Currie and Musango, 2016; Kennedy, Cuddihy and Engel-Yan, 2007). Here this has been adapted to 'urban island water metabolisms'. The research highlights the value of more holistic and situated understanding of water systems in urban island contexts including: the role of intra-island networks that operate beyond municipal borders; accessibility in the contexts of ever changing water levels; and seasonal dimensions. The paper recommends longer-term and comparative research to further the understanding of the specific needs and challenges for water management in these peripheral contexts and to strengthen the urban island water metabolism concept.

It is estimated that broken water pumps impact 62 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last 20 years, broken handpumps have represented US$1·2–1·5 billion of lost investment in this region, with 30–40% of rural water systems failing prematurely. While the contributory factors are complex and multi-faceted, the authors consider that improved post-construction monitoring strategies for remote water projects, which rely on smart pumps to monitor operational performance in place of physical site visits, may address some of these problems and help reduce the heavy time and resource demands on stakeholders associated with traditional monitoring strategies. As such, smart pumps could play a significant role in improving project monitoring and might subsequently help deliver universal access to safe and affordable drinking water by 2030, which constitutes one of the key targets of United Nations sustainable development goal 6 and is embedded in some national constitutions.

Purpose This paper aims to present a literature review of remote monitoring systems for water infrastructure in the Global South. Design/methodology/approach Following initial scoping searches, further examination was made of key remote monitoring technologies for water infrastructure in the Global South. A standard literature search methodology was adopted to examine these monitoring technologies and their respective deployments. This hierarchical approach prioritised “peer-reviewed” articles, followed by “scholarly” publications, then “credible” information sources and, finally, “other” relevant materials. The first two search phases were conducted using academic search services (e.g. Scopus and Google Scholar). In the third and fourth phases, Web searches were carried out on various stakeholders, including manufacturers, governmental agencies and non-governmental organisations/charities associated with Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in the Global South. Findings This exercise expands the number of monitoring technologies considered in comparison to earlier review publications. Similarly, preceding reviews have largely focused upon monitoring applications in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper explores opportunities in other geographical regions and highlights India as a significant potential market for these tools. Research limitations/implications This review predominantly focuses upon information/data currently available in the public domain. Practical implications Remote monitoring technologies enable the rapid detection of broken water pumps. Broken water infrastructure significantly impacts many vulnerable communities, often leading to the use of less protected water sources and increased exposure to water-related diseases. Further to these public health impacts, there are additional economic disadvantages for these user communities. Originality/value This literature review has sought to address some key technological omissions and to widen the geographical scope associated with previous investigations.