Funding: Data2Sustain EDIH
Fields of Life
Fields of Life works to provide sustainable access to clean water in rural communities. Part of the Smart Water project, WiSAR Lab, through the Data2Sustain initiative, developed a web-based monitoring application that provides real-time visibility into borehole pump performance. The platform collects IoT sensor data and presents it through an intuitive dashboard, enabling remote tracking of water volume, pump efficiency, battery health and operational status. The Smart Water Progressive Web App supports proactive maintenance and data-driven decision-making to improve long-term sustainability.
The Challenge
Maintaining rural water pumps presents significant logistical and financial challenges. Failures are often only detected when communities report breakdowns, resulting in long downtimes and reactive maintenance. Limited visibility into pump performance made it difficult to identify inefficiencies, battery issues or abnormal usage patterns. Fields of Life required a reliable digital solution to remotely monitor pump health, detect anomalies early and ensure sustainable water access while reducing operational costs and unnecessary site visits.
WiSAR Solution
WiSAR Lab, working with Data2Sustain, designed and developed a Progressive Web Application as part of the Smart Water system. The platform integrates IoT-enabled telemetry devices installed on borehole pumps, which transmit structured sensor data to a secure cloud infrastructure.
The Web App processes and visualises key metrics including water volume pumped, stroke counts, pump efficiency (volume per stroke), battery charge and discharge cycles, signal strength, and movement data. A dynamic dashboard provides daily, monthly, and yearly summaries, allowing stakeholders to track performance trends over time.
Anomaly detection logic was implemented to flag unusual patterns such as efficiency drops, high stroke counts with low water output, battery recharge failures or communication packet loss. These alerts allow early intervention before a complete pump failure occurs.
The application is built using modern web technologies and cloud services to ensure scalability, security, and accessibility. Delivered as a Progressive Web App, it operates efficiently across devices with minimal bandwidth requirements, which is critical for stakeholders working in remote or low-connectivity environments. The solution was intentionally engineered to minimise ongoing operational costs by leveraging efficient cloud architecture, automated data aggregation, optimised storage strategies, and lightweight front-end delivery, ensuring long-term scalability without increasing maintenance burden.
Impact & Benefits
The Smart Water Web App enables:
- Proactive maintenance
- Reduced pump downtime
- Improved operational transparency.
Real-time monitoring allows for:
- Faster issue detection and response.
- Data-driven insights to support better resource allocation
- Improved sustainability
- Long-term impact measurement for rural water infrastructure projects.
The Smart Water Web App strengthens accountability and transparency in water projects. By providing measurable performance data, it enhances reporting capabilities and builds trust among donors and stakeholders. The platform contributes to sustainable water management practices in underserved communities.
Social Impact: Improved reliability of rural water pumps ensures consistent access to clean water for communities, supporting health, education and daily livelihoods.
Economic Impact: Reduced reactive maintenance lowers operational costs and minimises expensive emergency repairs, allowing funds to be redirected to expanding water access initiatives.
