Rehabilitation of water points in Niger

The drinking water supply for people and cattle in the region Dosso, Niger, depends almost completely on water from deep boreholes.
In the early '90 around 400 locally manufactured Volanta handpumps were installed on boreholes in the villages by 10 local mechanics, who were also trained and equiped to maintain these pumps. A spare part supply structure was installed in the region. For the management of each handpump a village water committee was trained. This structure functioned well for more then a decade until the spare part supply in the region became a problem. Actually some 60% of these pumps are therefore out of order. Relatively simpel repairs could bring them again into good working order.
The local water authorities together with PRACTICA and the local pump manufacturer ACREMA search funding for redynamizing the spare part supply and to start the repair of these pumps. C-DARMA, based in Dosso, will take the lead for this rehabilitation project.

Goals overview

The goal of this project is to rehabilitate 15-20 water points in the Dosso region that are currently not operational due to lack of spare part supply of the Volanta pumps. Within this project, local pump mechanics are trained to repair the pumps and local production of spare parts is initiated in Dosso. With the structures in place, rehabilitation of other water points in the area should become feasible for the village water committees with minimal external intervention.

Current status

Rehabilitation of the water points will be an integral part of a larger project boosting the use of the locally produced high quality Volanta deepwell pumps, of which production was successfully initiated in the 1980’s. The ultimate goal is to ensure that all the knowledge around production, installation, use and maintenance of those pumps is available in-country and so offering a high quality community drinking water pump that is suitable for the extreme conditions like very low water tables as can be found in Niger.
Part of the project approach is additional training of the cooperatives that are now producing and installing Volanta pumps, using the training manuals that PRACTICA has developed with ETC and the Volanta pump producer in Burkina Faso.

Project plan

In the Dosso region in Niger, people in rural villages depend on handpumps to collect groundwater, which can be as deep as 80m. For the deepwell pumps that are being used in this area, lack of a decent spare part supply system is the main reason for some 200 pumps currently being out of order. To improve access to water in this region, PRACTICA wants to make a start with rehabilitation of a number of pumps and improving the maintenance system and spare part supply in the region.

Expected outcomes

• 15 - 20 rural water points rehabilitated
• 15 - 20 water committees trained in waterpoint management
• 4 regional pump mechanics trained
• improved spare part supply in the region
• local employment in spare part production

Sustainability of the project is extremely important, as it will be a start-up of improving the whole maintenance structure for Volanta deepwell pumps in the region, including improving spare part supply and improving the skills of the pump mechanics in the region. The project will function as a pilot, starting with 15-20 water points, where the water user committees will be encouraged to initiate the actions needed to rehabilitate the water point. In most cases, this will include repairs on the pump and replacement of parts. Costs associated with this should be covered by the committee to some extent, creating additional funds to support other committees.
Additional training (both technical and business training) of local pump mechanics will ensure that knowledge around installation and repairs of deepwell pumps is not going to waste and will enable those mechanics to run a profitable business.
The first order of spare parts for 20 water points will enable the local production facility for Volanta pumps in Niger, ACREMA (Atelier de construction et réparation du matériel agricole; Tahoua) to pick up production and invest in production means. To guarantee the quality of the spare parts, PRACTICA will give additional training in quality control for ACREMA and C-DARMA, both working with Volanta pumps and part of the same cooperative umbrella organisation in Niger.
With maintenance systems in place, PRACTICA will put effort in convincing other organisations to use the locally produced Volanta pumps as to stimulate the local economy and local private sector.