Community-based handpump maintenance

The search for a simple, low cost but effec­tive means of providing potable water for the world's millions who have no access to pipe­borne water has seemingly settled on the borehole/dug-well combined with the handpump as a solution. The handpump and the bore­hole/dug-well need however to be properly maintained if their long life, reliability and good performance are to be ensured. Maintenance systems in use on handpumps are the highly centralised and the fully-fledged decentralised community-based. This paper looks at these systems of mainte­nance and examines the community-based maintenance which is of recent development. It emphasizes the need to integrate the maintenance function at all phases of the water supply project even the design conception stage.