RWSN Country Information

The 'Stop the Rot' initiative documents the scale and extent of rapid handpump corrosion and the use of poor-quality handpump components in sub-Saharan Africa and tries to bring about actions to address these problems. These two interlinked issues contribute to poor handpump performance, rapid handpump failure and poor water quality, all of which can ultimately lead to abandonment of the handpump sources, thus forcing users to return to contaminated or distant water supplies.

The first report estimates the reliance on handpumps in sub-Saharan Africa, reviews the literature on handpump functionality and performance, and synthesises information on handpump technical quality from various studies and assessments.

The second report examines handpump corrosion in detail, with an overview of what is known and what has been done to address the issue in specific SSA countries and by select organisations.

The third report reflects on the existing guidance on handpump quality assurance, collates examples of poor-quality components, and examines handpump supply chains through a case study of Zambia.

The climate crisis and global pandemic have accelerated the urgency of providing safe
drinking water services around the world. Global progress to safe drinking water is
off-track with uncertain and limited data on the extent and performance of rural water
service providers to inform policy and investment decisions. This report documents
a global diagnostic survey to evaluate the status and prospects of rural water service
providers from 68 countries. The service providers describe providing drinking water
services to a population of around 15 million people through over 3 million waterpoints.

The data provides information on the scale and sustainability of rural water services to
examine:
• The extent and type of professional water service provision in rural areas globally;
• Self-reported metrics of operational and financial performance; and,
• The size and scope of current rural service providers that could transition to resultsbased
funding.

Five major findings emerge. First, most service providers aim to repair broken
infrastructure in three days or less. Second, almost all service providers reported at least
one type of water safety activity. Third, most service providers collect payments for water
services. Fourth, about one third of service providers reported major negative shocks to
their operations from the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifth, non-governmental service providers
in low income countries less often report receiving subsidies for operations, and more
often report paying part of user fees to government, including through taxes.
Most rural water service providers are working towards provision of affordable, safe and
reliable drinking water services. Key barriers to progress include sustainable funding
and delivery of services at scale. We propose four conditions to promote scale and
sustainability based on policy alignment, public finance, professional service delivery,
and verifiable data. To illustrate these conditions, we consider the differing context and
service delivery approaches in the Central African Republic and Bangladesh. We conclude
by identifying a group of 77 service providers delivering water services for about 5 million
people in 28 countries. These 77 service providers report operational metrics consistent
with a results-based contracting approach. Technical assistance might support many
more to progress. We argue that government support and investment is needed to
rapidly progress to the scale of 100 million people to provide evidence of pathways to
universal drinking water services for billions more.

The objective of this study is to organize and revise existing hydrogeological data in Liberia in order to have an initial knowledge of areas where environmental and hydrogeological situation could make hand drilling techniques potentially suitable at low cost and as sustainable solution to increase the availability of potable water for the population.
The document is structured in three parts:
- Databases concerning information on water points
- General data of Liberia, concerning the aspects that contribute to the objectives of the project.
- Identification and cartography of the regions favorable to hand drilling and the feasibility of the project
in the context of the national water supply policies in Liberia.

The RWSN Leave No-One Behind Group in collaboration with SNV hosted a three-week E-Discussion on inclusive management innovation from 12th of November to 4th of December 2018. This e-discussion aimed to go beyond inclusive design, exploring the implications of management innovations for gender and social inclusion in rural water supply. Three topics were explored:

1. Gender and Social Inclusion Issues within Rural Water Supply Management Innovations.
2. Strengths and weaknesses of innovative management models to ensuring equity
3. Government role and responsibility of realising the right to water in their jurisdiction

• An average of 78% of water points are functional across the 11 countries analyzed.

• The high failure rates early after installation are troubling: almost 15% after one year and 25% of water points are non-functional by their fourth year after installation. This indicates widespread problems with poor quality water point installation, due to a range of problems that may include professionalism and skills around contracts, construction and supervision; borehole siting; lack of quality control of hardware; or lack of post-construction monitoring and problem resolution.

• Handpumps are often singled out as technology that fails, but analysis of other water point types show similar functionality levels, and that tens of thousands of handpumps are providing a service

This poster was peer-reviewed and presented at the 7th RWSN Forum in Abidjan, Cote'Ivoire 2016.

It replaces "Handpump Data 2009 Selected Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa" (2009)