Smart technologies: new options to reduce costs of rural water supply

Regarding water, some 84% of the un served live in rural areas (UNICEF 2008). To improve this situation the number of decentralised supply systems such as wells and hand pumps need to increase. With technologies normally chosen progress with increasing coverage is slow but by applying innovative lowcost water technologies, so called Smart tecs, access to more and safe water, especially in rural areas, could drastically increase. Recent innovations have reduced the cost of water technologies for wells, boreholes, pumps, storage, recharge, irrigation, and water treatment by 3070% as compared to conventional options and have increased sustainability. One example is the Rope pump of which now some 80.000 are installed worldwide and used by some 3 million people. The introduction of this pump in Nicaragua started with 1 million dollars development aid, through which the yearly GNP of Nicaragua increased by 10 million dollars. The shift from piston pumps to rope pumps doubled rural water supply in less than 10 years, 3 times faster than countries with conventional handoperated piston pumps. Surveys indicate that families that purchase a $70 Rope pump increase their annual income by $220. The large scale dissemination of new smallscale technologies, has a huge potential to improve rural water supply, increase food security and reduce rural poverty. (Currency units all in US dollars)