Changes

Different models of Rope pumps were introduced in Africa. This introduction has not always been successful as described above. In Ghana, 80% of the pumps did not work after one year and in Ethiopia, Uganda and Mozambique there were similar problems with pumps being installed for large communities. However, with the "right" models, the "right" user training and willingness of users to pay for repairs, up to 90% remain in operation also in Africa, as the Victory pump model in Ghana, the Elephant model in Zimbabwe and the SHIPO Model in Tanzania and Malawi prove. In 2013, Rope pumps were used in over 30 countries. Below are the experiences in several countries.

Some 70.000 rope pumps have been installed since 1988. The shift from imported piston pumps of $600 to locally produced rope pumps of $100 has doubled rural water supply in ten years, much faster than countries that applied imported hand Piston pumps. Users do the maintenance and over 95% of the Rope pumps remain in operation. The Rope pump has been adopted as the standard water pump by the government.

Some 80% of the Rope pumps in Nicaragua are used for one or a few families for [[Self Supply|self supply]]. The economic effect of family pumps is a total generated income of over 100 million US$ in the last 12 years. Families with a pump earn an average of 220 US$ more than families without a pump on their well (Investigation by CESADE/ICCO at 5015 families). The extra income is explained by the fact that as soon as families have a pump near the house, women save time, more water is used (so more hygiene) and water is used for animals, garden irrigation and reducing health related costs and generating extra income.

A Rope pump model called the Elephant Pump was introduced by the organisation Pump Aid in 1990. The main difference with other Rope pump models is the solid round concrete structure around the pump, to protect the well and to avoid splashing and recontamination. Now some 3,000 pumps serve 950,000 people and some 95% of the pumps are working. Many more pumps are planned to be installed in these countries before 2015 and if this can be realized, these pumps together will reach 1 million people. .

The first experiences with rope pumps in Ghana were discouraging. In a World Bank funded project, 80% did not function after one year because of lack of user involvement and production errors. In the year 2000 some 200 pumps were installed. After 1 year 80% of these pumps were defect. Major reasons were errors in construction and installation and lack of funds for follow up so there was no ownership created and hence a lack of maintenance. These problems caused a bad image of this pump type in Ghana and the government did not approve of this pump type. In other parts of Ghana other Rope pump models were installed Like the Victoria model produced in Bolgatanga and Pumping is life model on boreholes. Better quality and good community involvement resulted in much better results and most of the new model Rope pumps are working. The Rope pumps in northern Ghana were among others supported by Water Aid. The good results of the new pumps slowly improve the image of the Rope pump in Ghana again. After improvements some 1.600 pumps were installed.

Rope pumps were introduced here around 2006 by the Practica foundation and supported by organizations like IDE, JICA and Water Aid. During several years local metal workshops have been trained in production and model. However the pump became so popular that untrained workshops also started to produce and sell the pumps. By 2012, there were an estimated 10,000 Rope pumps installed in but often the pump and installation was of a poor quality without a good seal resulting water to leak back in the well and causing recontamination of the water.

In 2013 the government of Ethiopia decide to make a long term program to improve and standardize the Rope pumps and is doing this with funds from the Japanese aid organization JICA and technical support of the Dutch organization Meta.

Here the local organization [http://www.SHIPO-TZ.org SHIPO] in Njombe (South Tanzania) introduced the Rope pump in 2006. With support of the Dutch organization Connect International and funds from the Dutch government and Aqua for All, a so-called SMART Centre started. This Centre demonstrates a range of low cost water technologies like manual drilling hand pumps, water tanks, household filters etc. and trains organizations and the local private sector in production, maintenance, business skills etc. The centre organizes trainings for organizations like Winrock, Msabi and others. The result after 6 years is some 20 local companies trained, over 4000 SHIPO model Rope pumps installed, 800 manual drilled boreholes and cost reduction for rural water points of 40 to 15US$/person. In the last 2 years, out of the 4000 Rope pumps, some 30% now is sold to private families who pay for the pump with cash or via small loans.

Several rope pumps were introduced in order to provide a better alternative for the Afridev Community handpump, which is the standard handpump in Malawi. The Afridev is not popular due to many breakdowns and not available spare parts, especially in the more remote areas. However, the rope pumps also broke down many times, sometimes several times per month, due to the high number of users and was therefor not considered by the users as a good alternative for a community pump, although repairs were possible. Another disadvantage mentioned was that children found it difficult to pump and sometimes got hurt when the handle security break system was not functioning (in that case the handle turns back with a high speed due to the weight of the water in the riser pipe). The communities now prefer a more reliable handpump than the Afridev, with less need for spares.

As in Malawi, the Rope pump was seen as a viable alternative to the Afridev which is generally the official pump of choice. WaterAid had first introduced a bucket and windlass system in the Niassa province as an alternative due to the high failure rate of Afridev pumps, but the Mozambican government refused to accept these as official community water supplies. WaterAid, in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), UNICEF, CARE and the Government of Mozambique, therefore began a lengthy process of piloting a robust community rope pump, first relying on support from Bombas de Mecate in Nicaragua, but later adapting the design from Madagascar which is a pump model with a closed wheel cover. The new model meets a number of key well protection and water quality criteria set down by the development team. Three manufacturers were in operation in three provinces and through a process of skill sharing improvements have been made to the design resulting in a robust high quality model. A manufacturing standard has also been produced with the help of SKAT. After final stages of this process there was a final approval of the pump in 2011 as well as the licensing of the manufacturers by the Governments standards laboratory.

Please see the external links below for further information.

WaterAid in Burkina Faso is also currently developing a Rope pump model suitable to local conditions. This project has resulted in a renewed understanding across WaterAid of the need to ensure that Rope pumps destined for community water supplies require high quality manufacturing and installation techniques in order to improve their sustainability. WaterAid now intends to renew its efforts across the organization to improving the quality of rope pumps in countries where this is supported. A training course for manufacturers from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Zambia and Malawi was held in early 2010 as part of this process. A recent interesting development in Burkina Faso has been the redesign of the bottom guide box to include a non-return valve (foot valve) thereby ensuring that water is immediately available from the first turn of the pump handle. This is currently being piloted on a few pumps. Another organization, Winrock, started trainings in other local workshops and installed Rope pumps of the SHIPO model in communities up to 150 people in 2012 and 2013. Some 100 are installed at the end of 2013 and 98% are functioning.