Reducing the cost of water using smart technologies : a paper presented at the International symposium on multiple-use water services in Addis Ababa...

To increase rural water supply in Africa, hand piston pumps were widely disseminated in the 1980s. After technical improvements, the focus shifted from technology to the so called VLOM approach (Village Level Operation and Maintenance management) but still 20 - 50% of the hand pumps in sub-Saharan countries are not working at any given time. A major reason seems the lack of capacity of the users to manage the maintenance, and although hand piston pumps are relatively simple it seems that in many cases they are still “hi tech” for the target group. “Lo-Tech” pumps or so called Appropriate Technologies (AT) also often fail because they are not efficient or not accepted because of their “stone age” image. Another reason is the lack of the involvement of the local private enterprises in production, sales and maintenance. When the projects finish, the activities often stop because local production, quality control, sales and marketing (supply chain) are not developed. [authors abstract]