In January 2021, Ask for Water GmbH and Skat Foundation, under the Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN), launched a 15-month initiative called ‘Stop the Rot’. It set out to document the scale and extent of rapid handpump corrosion and the use of poor quality handpump components in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and bring about actions to address them. 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 who return to contaminated, or distance sources. These issues are recognised as problematic by some water sector practitioners in as well as a few organisations, but in general, have been poorly documented. Nearly al
The Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) is a global network of more than 13,000 rural water professionals in 168 countries. The Secretariat is hosted by Skat Foundation, St. Gallen Switzerland and holds the international design specifications for public domain handpumps including the India Mark II, India Mark III and Afridev. Nearly all public domain handpumps in Sub-Saharan Africa are manufactured and imported from India, and therefore the India Mark II/III manufacture fall under the jurisdiction and quality standards of “Deepwell Handpumps” of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
To date, the study has prepared the following three draft reports, and is finalising a Handpump Survey of RWSN members undertaken in 2021:
1 Danert (2022) Stop the Rot Report I: Handpump Reliance, Functionality and Technical Failure, Action Research on Handpump Component Quality and Corrosion in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ask for Water GmbH, Skat Foundation and the Rural Water Supply Network
2 Other reports in the series:
3 Danert, K. (2022) Stop the Rot - Report II: Rapid Corrosion of Handpumps, Action research on handpump component quality and corrosion in sub-Saharan Africa, Ask for Water GmbH, Skat Foundation and the Rural Water Supply Network
4 Danert (2022) Stop the Rot Report III: Handpump design and quality – with Zambia case study, Action Research on Handpump Component Quality and Corrosion in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ask for Water GmbH, Skat Foundation and the Rural Water Supply Network

We are looking for a consultant or consultants to undertake a short study to find answers to the following questions:
1. What are the requirements for marking handpump components as conforming to Indian Standards, and are they effective?
2. What are the responsibilities of BIS in relation to public domain handpump manufacture in India, particularly the widely used India Mark and Afridev pumps? To what extent does BIS undertake and document its responsibilities, and what human resources are expended for this?
3. Which factories are being inspected, how often, by whom, and is the information from inspections available to the public, or potential buyers? Are there examples of factories which have been requested to change procedures?
4. Are regulations such as the issuing of licences and certificates in India (as indicated above) being enforced, and if so, how could this help to ensure quality of exports to SSA countries?
5. Which SSA importers require pre-shipment inspection and is it effective? Is there any evidence of bribery or other forms of corruption in pre-shipment inspection where it exists?
6. Are there any incentives to prevent low quality handpumps and spares from being manufactured and exported from India?

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