Push for low-cost water technologies

...In drought-prone Northern Ghana More communities in the northern sector of Ghana are said to be gaining access to adequate water supplies during the dry season.
This follows the implementation of various pilot schemes in various parts of the three northern regions - Northern, Upper East and Upper West - on low-cost water technologies by several non-governmental organisations.

The low-cost technologies are the Rope Pump, Dry River-Bed Well and Water Trapping systems.
Even though it is unclear how many beneficiary communities there are, Community Life Improvement Programme (CLIP) Ghana, which is an integrated community development organisation, has urged authorities to quickly recognise and promote low-cost technologies.
It argues that such technologies are "affordable in terms of cost" and "provide the needed services in terms of access by the deprived."
Also, low-cost technologies can be implemented by members of the community with little supervision and their maintenance is limited, consisting mainly of minor repair works.
Given the way the construction of low-cost technologies involve community participation, CLIP concludes that they "Stimulate a very high level of community coherence and responsibility."
CLIP also recently showcased the Rope Pump, Dry River-Bed Well and Water Trapping technologies at the 23rd edition of the Mole Conference series (Mole XXIII) in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital, where about 120 people from civil society, policy institutions, donor agencies/countries, traditional authorities and media gathered to discuss Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) financing under the theme: "Financing the WASH Sector: Past, Current Trends and Vision for the Future."
The Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions are the poorest areas in Ghana and also the poorest served areas in terms of access to potable water. They contribute significantly to the reason why rural water coverage is slightly lower than urban coverage.
In Ghana, the provider-based statistics by Ghana Water Company Limited and Community Water and Sanitation Agency (GWCL/CWSA) estimate that 63% of the 24 million Ghanaians have access to safe water; meaning that roughly four million people do not have access to safe water.
The Water Sector Performance Report for 2009 puts rural water supply levels at 58.87 per cent against a 2015 target of 76 per cent while urban water supply is at 59 per cent against a 2015 target of 85 per cent.
It is the view of many that rural access to safe water can be enhanced if affordable mechanisms are rolled out.
"Low cost technologies are applied as simple tools aimed at economic and social development of a people. They focus on advantages of low cost and versatile modern materials to produce much needed facilities for the benefit of the underserved or deprived in society," CLIP's officials opined when they showcased the trio of low-cost technologies at Mole XXIII.
The organisation elaborately described the three systems and how they worked.
Rope Pump
The Rope Pump was first piloted by the CWSA in 1990 through a technology transfer programme with the World Bank on alternative pumps for sustainable rural water delivery. "The technology has been tested in Ghana before and for very simple reasons, the spirit seems to have died down," CLIP lamented.
Nonetheless, it described the system as a simple technology hand pump that has the potential of reducing the cost of installing hand pumps in Ghana by about 75 to 80 per cent.
The rope pump consists of a rope in a closed loop which circles through a tube whose lower end is submerged in water at the bottom of the well. Pistons, with the same diameter as the tube, are placed on the rope at regular intervals. When the wheel (above ground) is turned, the cord moves through the tube and the pressure reduction created by the pistons 'pulls' the water upward.
The pump is said to work up to depths of 40 metres, but functions optimally up to a depth of 20 metres since lifting water from greater depths becomes heavy to extract. Rope Pumps can provide a water flow rate of 10 to 40 litres per minute depending on the depth.
"Rope pumps are generally installed on traditional wells, but they can also be put on boreholes," CLIP clarified.
On the cost, CLIP stated that the installation of the Rope Pump is easy and does not need any lifting equipment or special tools. "The average cost of a rope pump is about GHC 360.00 to GHC 650.00 as compared to between GHC1,300.00 to GHC 1,900.00 for imported hand pump."
In view of this, the organisation said: "We are therefore demanding the recognition of rope pumps by the Government of Ghana to facilitate their increased use, and help community members to make their own decisions and to help themselves and to become more empowered."
Dry River-Bed Wells
There was also an expatiation on the Dry River-Bed Wells technology. The technology demonstrates how surface runoff that is directed through its course into seasonal rivers as flash floods can be harnessed and abstracted through appropriate technologies such as hand dug wells constructed in the streams and rivers.
Rivers and streams that usually become dry during the critical period are useful for the construction of River-Bed Wells. "Since time immemorial, riverbeds have provided water for people in rural communities. During extreme droughts, when all other water sources have dried up, water can still be found in riverbeds," CLIP explains.
Just like the normal Hand-Dug Well, the River-Bed Wells can also be fitted with the Rope Pump and its spare parts are readily available on the local market and can be accessed at cheaper costs and replaced by a local mechanic.
The average cost for the construction of a well installed with a Rope Pump is estimated at GHC 2,300.00.
Water Trapping (WT)
This technology "is one of the little known about cost-effective technologies for water conservation and storage for various purposes," says CLIP.
The technology is employed using polythene or 25 kilogramme-size nylon bags filled with clay-sand and laid across a potential site on a stream/river with capacity to accumulate 300 cubic meters of ran-off water.
Essentially, "The supply capacity of a WT project is able to satisfy a community's Water demand for a period of time. Quality is however not guaranteed," CLIP mentions.
A downside is that a WT facility is a labour intensive construction process and therefore requires full cooperation and participation of the beneficiary community.
The cost involved depends on the number of bags that are needed to be filled and laid (as retention wall) across the stream/river but generally its maximum cost would be about GhC700.00
Generally, the various technologies are cheaper in the long-term and require little maintenance, argued CLIP. On that basis therefore, it called for prompt recognition by state authorities.
"Where a water project is over-designed, the construction works and operation costs are higher than necessary and the extra cost has to be levied on the people even when they are still battling the poverty level at the household level...Let's recognise and promote low cost technologies to increase access and coverage!"


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