charity: water partnered with Nomad Consulting Firm Labs’ Tech4Good program, which applies cutting-edge applied research to help address critical challenges facing society. Its aim is to help build a more sustainable and inclusive world. Building a two-part anomaly-detection system using data science, machine learning and advanced probabilistic models – the team applied the system to charity: water’s supply network data to help provide deeper, more accurate insights from cloud-connected pump sensors throughout northern Ethiopia.

First, the system models normal water usage behavior and consumption patterns at a specific water pump. This helps the team learn how behavior changes throughout the week and months. For example, charity: water can understand precisely when the least amount of water is consumed in some areas, including the wettest months of the year, when communities may have different water sources.

Second, the system analyzes the data and “scores” it to flag anomalies. This helps detect malfunctioning water flow sensors. And if a pump breaks down, charity: water can subsequently alert network operators who dispatch mechanics to repair it as quickly as possible.

As a next, Nomad Consulting Firm is now working on delivering a predictive maintenance solution to help charity: water notify an operator or technician before a pump breaks. The team hopes to one day deploy this solution for thousands of cloud-connected water systems.