Design and Implementation of a SCADA System for Remote Monitoring of Rural Water Supply Schemes in Kogi State

Background: Rural water supply schemes in Kogi State, North Central Nigeria, suffer from frequent breakdowns that go undetected for extended periods, leaving communities without water. SCADA-based remote monitoring can dramatically reduce response times. Aim: This project designed and implemented a SCADA system for remote monitoring of rural water supply infrastructure in three local government areas of Kogi State. Methods: Flow meters, pressure transducers, and motor current sensors were installed at pump stations and reservoir sites. A Modbus RTU protocol connected field instruments to a Raspberry Pi-based local RTU. Data were transmitted via GSM to a central SCADA server running InduSoft Web Studio. System performance was evaluated over 12 months. Results: Mean fault detection time reduced from 52 hours to 3.8 hours after SCADA implementation. Water supply continuity improved from 63% to 84% of daily target hours. Three major pump failures were pre-empted by vibration trend alerts. System uptime was 96.1% over the evaluation period. Conclusion: SCADA implementation significantly improves rural water supply reliability in Kogi State. The study recommends expansion to all state-managed water schemes and development of local SCADA maintenance capacity. Keywords: SCADA, rural water supply, remote monitoring, Kogi State, telemetry.