Hand Pump Repair
Repair Broken Hand Pumps at Existing Water Wells
Millions of people in rural Africa rely on water wells or “boreholes” as they are called in Africa for their daily water needs. These water wells are universally accepted as the most reliable method of meeting the clean, safe water needs of rural communities in developing countries. Utilizing ground water resources by drilling and installing hand pumps is considered to be one of the most promising low-cost options for community water supplies. According to the Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) there are approximately 250,000 hand pumps in Africa, but it is estimated that less than half of these are operational. This statistic reveals that there are literally thousands of these pumps that are no longer functioning in Africa to provide
clean, safe drinking water for people in rural areas.
The simple hand pumps used to pump the water out of the ground to the user become inoperable over time as any mechanical device will do. Many of these hand pumps have been installed by the organization that initiated the drilling and construction of the water well to supply the community with clean water. Sadly both the organization and driller have left the area and have not been back since the well was completed. When these hand pumps stop working and a community water board has not been established and trained to maintain and repair these hand pumps the community will go back to drinking water from unsafe sources. This step back increases the likelihood of disease and death in the community.
The Never Thirst Again clean water initiative aims to reverse this growing trend by rehabilitating India Mark II, India Mark III, and Afridev hand pumps the most widely used in sub-Saharan Africa. Our goal is to bring these inoperable hand pumps back to life so they can continue to provide the life-sustaining clean, safe water so desperately needed by rural communities.
Our strategy is to train our staff and volunteers and to work along side local nationals to do repair work on hand pumps. We will also mobilize teams with the necessary parts and tools to do the job right. By training local nationals to do the repair and maintenance we will instill a sense of ownership within the community and establish a community water board if this has not been established to broaden and sustain this effort.Where water wells have already been drilled, hand pump rehabilitation is the most cost-effective means to continue providing clean, safe drinking water for communities in rural areas.
These strategies are geared to building a model that is
Holistic, Appropriate and Sustainable!
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Your gift today will help us repair broken hand pumps in rural Kenya and provide the gift of clean, safe drinking water to people in need.