Around one million hand pumps supply water to over 200 million rural water users across the continent, yet as many as one third of all hand pumps are thought to be broken at any given time, with 30-70% of pumps breaking within two years. The Smith School Water Programme at Oxford University launched a 12-month 'smart hand pump’ trial in Kyuso, Kenya, in 2013 in an attempt to resolve problems related to broken water pumps and to test a new maintenance model for universal and reliable water services. The team opted for non-rechargeable batteries, with a replacement lifetime longer than the pump maintenance cycle.