Solar Power, Mobile Phones Converge to Distribute Water in Kenya

Solar Power, Mobile Phones Converge to Distribute Water in Kenya Mobile phones have revolutionized trade across Africa, and in the space of just a decade or so, the continent has leapfrogged from minimal landline networks to pioneering mobile phone technology that often is not available in many western countries.

The communications company Safaricom, for example, introduced M-PESA — a phone based money transfer system — in 2007 (despite concerns over the lack of a legal framework governing transactions).

The system, which today reaches 6.5 million subscribers, allows cash to be deposited with a vendor and instantly collected from another, anywhere in the country, without the need for a bank account. Mobile phones can now be used to pay for a variety of goods and services, including fuel, amenity bills and public transport.

Recently added to that list: well water.

On the heels of complaints about corrupt distributors and conflicts over the fair allocation of water, a community in Musingini, Kenya, is working with Safaricom and Grundfos Lifelink, a division of the Danish pump maker Grundfos Group, to implement a solar-powered, pay-for-use water vending system using the M-PESA backbone.

The solar-powered well is activated using a smart card, which permits water to flow until either the card is removed or the user’s account runs out of credit.

Villagers can use the M-PESA system to add more credit to the smart card via their mobile phones.

”As far as I’m aware this link-up between mobile banking and solar-powered wells is completely new” said Peter Hansen of the Grundfos Lifelink.

”With this system we can monitor remotely how efficiently the solar well is operating, how much water has been used and how much income has been generated,” Mr. Hansen added. While some of that income is held by the organization to address the technical needs of the system, the rest, Mr. Hansen said, goes back into the community.

The system is being tested across Kenya, and by the end of the year at least 20 communities will be combining mobile banking and solar powered wells.

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Posted by Sana Iqbal on Jan 14th, 2010 and filed under Others Stuff, Technolgy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site