This archive report was first published on 18 December 2019.
December 18, 2019, marked a significant milestone in Africa's quest for sustainable water management. High-tech solar pumps, manufactured by British social enterprise Futurepump, are being used by thousands of small-scale farmers in 15 African nations, including Kenya and Uganda.
The solar pumps' sensors record real-time data such as energy usage and pump speed in each location, which is shared with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) to calculate groundwater extraction rates and levels.
According to Futurepump's managing director, Toby Hammond, the project has collected tens of millions of data points. 'We fitted remote monitoring sensors on to our pumps for our own in-house reasons - for looking at their technical performance - and we’ve collected tens of millions of data points,' he said.
Many of the world's major aquifers are stressed due to excessive water extraction, and climate change has led to increasing rainfall variability. To ensure food security for Africa's growing population, countries need to manage their water resources more efficiently.
Studies by IWMI suggest that there is still much untapped and sustainable groundwater potential in Africa, particularly if recharge from the surface is managed. However, there is a shortage of local data to develop policies.
IWMI plans to use the data from Futurepump's 4,000 pumps to calculate how much water is being extracted at any given time, which can help governments ensure it is used sustainably.
As IWMI's David Wiberg noted, 'People often see solar pumps as “free energy”... They feel since it’s not going to cost extra to extract more water, it can be taken.' However, once an information system like this is in place, farmers will be able to see that pumping extra amounts of water is not helping them or their neighbors grow extra crops.
