Africa's unmet needs in water supply are enormous and
widespread, especially in rural settings. This article looks at
a basic type of water supply: low-yielding point sources
tapping groundwater through boreholes and hand-dug wells. Data
were obtained from three projects in a high-rainfall nation in
West Africa and one project in a country in the arid Horn of Africa.
The four projects comprised a total of 603 water points (the
collective term for boreholes and dug wells tapping groundwater).
Analysis of detailed financial and engineering data from both
productive and unproductive water points helped pinpoint a
principal problem in establishing even basic water supplies, i.e.,
their low success rate and resulting high costs.
Simple engineering, economic, and human guidelines are
suggested to reduce the costs of rural boreholes and wells and
to improve success rates. The study suggests that rural water
points should cost approximately $200/m ($61/ft). Although
evidence from several other African nations indicates that prices
are often considerably higher, the author attributes much of this
increase to the fact that central authorities, rather than the
users themselves, assume responsibility for supply implementation
and maintenance. The four projects led to the privatization
of the rural water supply in the West African country and
opened up the sector to competitive bidding in the Horn of
Africa nation. Includes tables, figure.
| Edition : | Vol. 95 - No. 8 |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 200 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 12 |
| Published : | 08/01/2003 |
