Building of spring-fed gravity-flow water supply systems in remote mountain villages of Lao PDR

Action Contre la Faim (ACF) has been working in the field of water supply in Lao PDR since 1991. Since then, ACF has built water supply systems including water boreholes, wells, and spring fed gravity flow systems in more than 300 villages in 3 provinces of Lao PDR. The majority of target villages being rural villages, some of them with difficult access (up to two days walk), technical solutions have been developed for the building of gravity-flow water supply systems fed by springs in remote areas. For instance, plastic underground reservoirs or gabion structures have been used to replace usual concrete structures of gravity-flow systems. This paper discusses about the methodology and the techniques used to build such systems.