[[Image:SpringwaterCollecting.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Kenyan boy gathers water from a protected spring in Busia. <br> Photo: [http://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/cleaning-springs-kenya The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab.]]]
[[Image:springwater2.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Children collecting spring water in Lamahai, Nepal. Photo: [http://worldwildlife.org/places/eastern-himalayas WWF.]]]
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There are several types of systems that can be built to exact water from a spring. The most common is to build a spring box, but a lower cost and simpler in design alternative is the [http://www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/technical-briefs/34-protecting-springs.pdf protection of a spring with no box]. Protecting a spring without a box is cheaper than digging a well or borehole, but spring boxes are more useful as storage when demand is greater than the flow, to prevent contamination, and providing the spring with an easy way to flow into a pipe.
Often, in rural areas, central water filters are installed at the source, which supply water to several houses. Generally these are unprotected, and at unattended hours even pigs bathe in the sole source of drinkable water. Often springs have slow flow rates and so are not suitable for water pipe or network systems. At those places, it is wiser to protect the spring well and set up a manual pump. This keeps the water clean, and can increase the water supply. Once a spring is protected it is relatively easy to run pipes (if the flow is big enough) and create a tap, using gravity to power the flow if possible, from the spring closer to the community.
===Suitable Conditions===
The system is suitable for water sources at small springs. It can be adapted depending on the flow rate and size of the filter, the amount of water demanded, and other conditions.
'''So it follows that:'''
If water from a spring can be protected and collected without a spring box; if no sedimentation is needed because the water carries only a low level of suspended solids; if no storage is needed because the water flows at a rate sufficient to meet the peak demand... then no spring box is required.
===Resilience to changes in the environment===
====Drought====
'''Effects of drought''': Can dry up.<br>
Heavy surface flows may damage a spring box (that was poorly constructed) or its surrounding protections, and create more turbidity in the springwater.
===Construction, operation and maintenance===
'''General advice on cement''': A common cause of cracks in structures and linings (e.g. in tanks, dams, waterways, wells) is errors in mixing and applying the cement. First of all, it is important that only pure ingredients are used: clean water, clean sand, clean rocks. The materials have to be mixed very thoroughly. Secondly, the amount of water during mixing needs to minimal: the concrete or cement needs to be just workable, on the dry side even, and not fluid. Thirdly, it is essential that during curing the cement or concrete is kept moist at all times, for at least a week. Structures should be covered with plastic, large leaves or other materials during the curing period, and kept wet regularly.
EMAS is the acronym for Escuela Móvil de Agua y Saneamiento (Mobile School for Water and Sanitation), in Bolivia, whose director, Wolfgang Eloy Buchner, developed the EMAS pump in the 1990's. EMAS is not only the name of the mobile school for water and sanitation, but also a whole technical and social concept of water and sanitation which includes rain water harvesting, solar water heaters, windpower, hydraulic rams, water treatment, small tanks and sinks, a variety of hand and foot pumps, and ferrocement tanks. The aim of the technologies and systems is to achieve the necessary supply of drinkable water, and water for micro irrigation in rural and sub urban areas. [http://youtu.be/6_jX0xuUrSU EMAS system of pumping.]
===Costs===
In remote areas, use of plastic tanks can save money and labour days. 10 years of experience in Lao PDR showed that the best compromise between quality and amount of work was to make the intake with concrete, all tanks (sedimentation, break pressure or reservoir) from plastic tanks buried underground, and concrete tapstands. Using a combination of plastic and concrete (rather than only concrete for everything) saved about half the number of labour days. In terms of cost, the combination option was 8% more expensive but cheaper if free village labour was factored in.
===Field experiences===
In the sub-urban areas of Kampala city, springs are a major source of water for domestic use. Though spring water is considered to be aesthetically acceptable for domestic use, presence of poorly designed pit latrines, poor solid waste management as well as poor and inadequate spring protection, may lead to contamination of spring water with pathogenic bacteria.
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===Manuals, videos, and links===
* [http://www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/technical-briefs/34-protecting-springs.pdf Protecting Springs] or ([http://www.washdoc.info/docsearch/title/116185 alternative link]), produced by [http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/cv/wedc WEDC, Loughborough University].
* [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.paceproject.net%2FUserFiles%2FFile%2FWater%2FSpring%2520protection.pdf&ei=4Kd0T82oCoqqiALoqt2WDw&usg=AFQjCNFx5ztSs292dWllJ0EiBwcs2MgOXQ&sig2=M4OygGtP7JZmJIK8f4lZcA Spring Protection, Action sheet 19.] by [http://www.paceproject.net/ PACE].
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===Acknowledgements===
* CARE Nederland, Desk Study: [[Resilient WASH systems in drought-prone areas]]. October 2010.
* [http://www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/technical-briefs/34-protecting-springs.pdf Protecting Springs] or ([http://www.washdoc.info/docsearch/title/116185 alternative link]), produced by [http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/cv/wedc WEDC, Loughborough University].
* [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.paceproject.net%2FUserFiles%2FFile%2FWater%2FSpring%2520protection.pdf&ei=4Kd0T82oCoqqiALoqt2WDw&usg=AFQjCNFx5ztSs292dWllJ0EiBwcs2MgOXQ&sig2=M4OygGtP7JZmJIK8f4lZcA Spring Protection, Action sheet 19.] by [http://www.paceproject.net/ PACE].