A total of 200 remote sensors that use cell phone networks to monitor water pumps are being piloted in villages throughout Rwanda.

The sensors were designed by Sustainable Water, Energy and Environmental Technologies Laboratory (SWEETLab) in partnership with Living Water International, a local NGO, at Portland State University in the US to install water pumps in Rwanda.

"We’re only in the prototype model right now. We plan to  have 200 sensors installed in hand pumps across Rwanda by the end of the year,” Jack Beach, the technical advisor at Living Water International, said in a recent interview with SciDev.net.

According to Dr Evan Thomas, the director of the SWEETLab, 30 sensors have been installed so far.

The sensors will make broken water pumps easier to identity and fix.

"We are able to detect pump use and transmit data directly to the internet,” explained Thomas.

The sensor collects data on the water pressure, the quantity of water coming out of the pump and when people are pumping water. 

The data from the sensor is transmitted over cell phone networks to the Internet, where NGOs and other international agencies can monitor the pumps. When a pump is broken, technicians are notified via a text message.

The sensor runs on batteries and is fully contained within a waterproof box. The prototype for the sensor costs around $500 (Rwf0.3m) However, water pump installation costs between $5,000 (Rwf3.4m) and $15,000 (Rwf10m).

Beach said in the recent past, that repair teams would drive a circuit looking for broken hand pumps. This system proved both expensive and inefficient.

Thomas and his team hope to increase the quality of water service delivery in Rwanda. 

"Some estimates put water pump failure rate at 30 per cent in East Africa,” Thomas said.

According to Unicef, 25 per cent of the Rwandan population is still unable to access safe drinking water.

The Rwandan government has committed to 100 per cent national water supply coverage by 2017.