Implementation • RWSN Helping You

Manual drilling was introduced into Guinea over the last three years.  Previously there was no knowledge or experience of these technologies. About 50 manually drilled wells have been constructed to date, primarily for community water supplies. Although there are considerable funds available for further promotion of the technology, particularly through UNICEF, there is need to consolidate the experiences to date before moving on to another next phase of training and construction. It is also very important that the national government agencies responsible for rural water supplies as well as the local governments are given the opportunity to learn more about manual drilling technologies, including their potential and risks.

Download summary:
http://www.rural-water-supply.net/en/resources/details/527

It is estimated that up to 1,000 manually drilled wells exist in Malawi. Documentation on what was undertaken in the past is scant. However an initiative by Mzuzu University Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation SMART Centre in Northern Malawi commenced in 2012, with 50 manually drilled wells constructed by mid-2013. Businesses are being trained in both technical and business aspects of manual drilling. The national water policy does not specifically refer to manual drilling, but the 2012 Sector Performance Report recommends low cost drilling technologies as well as self supply approaches. Download the summary from:
 http://www.rural-water-supply.net/en/resources/details/523

In the 1980’s and early 1990’s manual drilling in Uganda meant hand augering, using the Vonder rig. It was popular and successful. However, its limited technical capability (i.e. inability to drill laterite) coupled with privatisation, inadequate supervision and competition from small machine rigs meant that it became less popular and had fallen out of use by the late 1990’s. Since then, other improved manual drilling techniques have been introduced by various organisations. None of these have managed to move much beyond testing or piloting. The most encouraging manual drilling initiative today is the training of enterprises in Gulu in a project financed by World Vision. However it is still too early to see whether there will be widespread uptake. Due to the geology and hydrogeology of the country, manual drilling will be possible in some areas only. For Uganda manual drilling is a niche technology, but perhaps highly suitable in some contexts.

Summary document: http://www.rural-water-supply.net/en/resources/details/526