Borehole sustainability in rural Africa: an analysis of routine field data

Handpump-equipped boreholes are one of the most common water supply technologies adopted in rural Africa, but often demonstrate low levels of sustainability. In addition to operational problems with the pump, the borehole itself may cease to provide adequate quantities of safe drinking water only a short time after construction. This can have a significant negative impact on poor rural communities, particularly in the dry season when alternative water sources are scarce. A study of 302 boreholes in Ghana aimed to investigate rapid-onset borehole failure in relation to field data typically available following drilling and development. The study showed that the likelihood of borehole failure increased by a factor of six when drilling occurred during the wet season, and discovered a strong correlation between monthly precipitation and respective failure rates for boreholes drilled in each month. The potential for borehole failure also increased significantly when the initial yield was below the guideline value of 10 l/min. There was no indication, however, that a higher guideline value would be a cost-effective measure to reduce failure rates

Assessing the potential for self-supply in Zambia

The Millennium Development Goal target for safe water supply is currently unlikely to be met in Zambia. In order to serve the population that is unlikely to be reached under conventional communitybased water supply programmes, alternative approaches to water supply service provision need to be explored. One such alternative is the SelfSupply approach which encourages households to develop and improve their own infrastructure incrementally. However, to ensure the actualisation of such an approach an enabling environment needs to be created that includes enabling policies, sufficient private sector capacity, access to appropriate technologies and technical advice, and effective financial mechanisms and markets. Drawing on the findings of a baseline survey in Luapula province it is concluded that there is significant potential for SelfSupply in Zambia and that an enabling environment largely exists. There is a need, however, to develop effective microcredit facilities that are accessible to rural households

An assessment of sanitation and hygiene in primary schools in Zambia

Access to sanitation in primary schools in Zambia is woefully inadequate, especially in community schools. Through analysis of national Ministry of Education data and a survey of schools in 16 districts an assessment of sanitation and hygiene in primary schools was undertaken. This revealed that while almost all schools have some type of sanitation facility, just over one third have permanent toilets and less than 10% of schools provide adequate numbers of toilets for girls. While lack of sanitation facilities may play a role in discouraging the attendance and retention of girl students no correlation was found between pupiltoilet ratios and school retention rates. However, for schools with unimproved traditional latrines retention rates were significantly lower than for those with improved sanitation facilities, especially for girls. While hygiene education programmes were present in most of the sample schools, only 45% of schools had soap for handwashing and the impact on hygiene behaviour in the school catchment areas appeared to be limited. There is a strong need to incorporate sanitation in the Ministry of Education’s infrastructure development plans

Professionalizing manual drilling in Africa: a complimentary strategy to achieve the MDG water target

The Millennium Development Goal target to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water by 2015 is unlikely to be met in sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, there is a need to develop and implement complimentary strategies to conventional approaches to water service provision, especially in rural areas which have the lowest coverage and are most off-target. One such approach is the utilization of manual drilling; however, for this to have significant and sustained impact it is essential that manual drilling be professionalized. This paper outlines the capacity building process required to professionalize manual drilling and ensure that it can make a significant contribution to providing safe water to rural un-served populations. This process includes thorough assessments of sector stakeholders, policies and the physical environment, and the identification, training and certification of drilling enterprises and associated business. The paper also introduces the manual drilling toolkit for use by country-level practitioners

Making universal access to water affordable in Zambia and Zimbabwe

As per capita costs of rural water supply escalate, and donor funding cannot keep pace, it will be necessary to look at alternative solutions to achieve universal access in sub-Saharan Africa. Leveraging funds from new sources and minimising costs to government may help to avoid a slow-down in progress to 2030. Results from UNICEF-funded reviews of Accelerated Self-supply in Zambia and Zimbabwe suggest Self-supply is an essential strategy to achieve universal access, especially in remote areas with low population density where many of the remaining unserved reside. Government must adopt complementary or hybrid strategies, incorporating Community Water Supply and Self-supply, if the SDG target of universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water is to be met. Including self-financing in rural water supply strategies will require development of new affordable standards for smaller communities, but could save the two governments almost $400,000,000, cutting the necessary budget by 35-40%

Decentralised intersectoral rural water supply and sanitation provision: lessons learned from Zambia

The integrated, inter-sectoral approach to rural water supply and sanitation provision adopted under Zambia’s Water, Sanitation and Health/Hygiene Education (WASHE) strategy has had limited success in delivering sustainable services. Given this context, the Government of the Republic of Zambia has recently proposed a new institutional structure and strategy under the National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme. While the new strategy has significant potential for better planning, implementation and performance monitoring, it is heavily dependent on effective decentralisation, which is moving very slowly. It also threatens to undo the positive gains established by a widespread understanding of the need for an interdisciplinary approach to water, sanitation and hygiene provision

Reflection of Dublin principles in rural water supply approaches in Zambia

Water resources management (WRM) is a broad sector that comprises various sub sectors including rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS). Attempts have been made to articulate WRM at global level culminating into the development of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach defined by the Dublin Principles. However, these principles still need to be reflected in local actions that are used to implement the RWSS interventions. Hence, this paper focuses on identifying the extent to which IWRM is reflected in the RWSS implementation approach in Zambia known as the WASHE concept. The results of this assessment show that only two out of the four Dublin principles are adequately reflected in the WASHE concept. It is concluded that there is a need to integrate ground water management in IWRM and adapt catchment management to existing administrative governance systems in Zambia, and that the WASHE concept be revised and expanded accordingly

Multi-sectoral decentralized water and sanitation provision in Zambia: rhetoric and reality

Decentralization is the cornerstone of local delivery of basic services such as water, sanitation and hygiene education in Zambia. Given the range of skills required to deliver these services in an integrated way, there is a strong need for multisectoralism at national and local levels. Currently, interministerial competition and conflicting priorities hinder the realization of this multisectoralism and threaten the effectiveness of decentralized service delivery. In particular, the deconcentrated nature of line ministries conflicts with the need for intersectoral cooperation within decentralized local authorities. Unless there is strong political will and direction from presidential level then decentralization will never be truly realized and may actually hinder the effective delivery of water and sanitation services. If this is the case then decentralization is simply rhetoric and a return to centralization may be necessary in order to ensure that the rural poor attain their basic human rights

Rural water supply in Africa: Building blocks for handpump sustainability

Rural water supplies in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly those relying on handpumps, often demonstrate low levels of sustainability. This book is designed to assist those responsible for planning, implementing and supporting rural water supply programmes to increase sustainability. Its primary aims are to raise awareness of issues that affect sustainability and the interrelationship between them, provide options for addressing these using examples, and describe how these options can be implemented. The importance of a programmatic approach to the delivery of rural water services is emphasized, as is the need for ongoing institutional support for community management and consideration of alternative management models. The book does not prescribe a 'one size fits all' solution but encourages a flexible, holistic approach to decision-making to achieve sustainable outcomes

Community-led total sanitation: triggering sustainable development in Zambia

Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) was introduced in Choma district in Zambia in late 2007. In twelve months sanitation coverage has increased from 38% to 93% across 517 villages, 402 of which are open defecation free. Over 14,500 toilets have been constructed by households with zero hardware subsidy and approximately 90,000 people have gained access to sanitation in less than a year. It is estimated that 88% of toilets met the Government’s definition of ‘adequate’ sanitation and 76% had handwashing facilities. If the approach is expanded to the remaining 300 villages in the district it is almost certain that the MDG sanitation target will be surpassed at district level more than five years ahead of time. The approach has accelerated access to sanitation far faster than subsidized sanitation approaches of the past and has enabled communities to recognize that they can develop without ‘handouts’; this has led to community led initiatives in other areas of development