How long can we maintain our existing waterpumps?

“It is practically uncertain how we are going to sustain the maintenance and reparation costs for our Afridev hand pumps. The cost of living, spare parts prices and maintenance costs are dizzyingly rising each year. Our water committee has asked the members to increase their monthly payment to MZN 20 meticais [Euro 0,53/ USD 0.60, exchange rate of 310310] that helps to keep the pumps operational.” This is how Jaime Fulao Nhaswe, a young teacher and also the Secretary for the local Water Committee in Metanato Community, southern Mozambique shares his fears for an uncertain future.

Jamie’s concern is that while on one hand prices are rising, on the other, “our sources of income and our purchasing power are proportionally depreciating each year, making us incapable to cope with various needs. I therefore fear that one day, we’ll no longer be able to collect enough contributions for these pumps. And this is already happening with our neighboring communities”.

According to the WASH Cost water and sanitation sector assessment report, the budgeting process is generally based only on the cost of infrastructure and not on the full cost of the service; little attention is paid to factors that contribute to the services’ sustainability, for example, to training, replacement/repairing costs, spare parts’ costs, post-construction support, etc.

The adoption of the demand principle by the government means among other things, the sharing of responsibilities between the government and communities in the management of water supply infrastructures.

Communities are tasked with the responsibility for ensuring the sustainability of infrastructure; including, repairing minor handpumps damage and acquiring and replacing spare parts in case of breakage.

In Metanato Community, District of Zavala, Province of Inhambane, southern Mozambique, the experience of communities in managing water supply infrastructures is characterized by a mixture of feelings: on one hand a sense of ownership of the infrastructure, expressed through people’s direct participation in managing their water pumps; on the other, concern about the sustainability of this infrastructure in the long run, due to inherent high costs and the fact that, in the long term, locally collected revenues may not cover monthly maintenance costs of water pumps allocated. In Metanato, water pumps break down on average five times a month. Reparation costs can exceed US$ 40 (forty US Dollars) for each breakdown, drawn from local contributions.

Each community household is expected to make to a monthly contribution of MZM 20 (twenty meticais), equivalent to more than half a dollar. In addition to this, a one metical fee is charged for each 20 litres of water drawn from the water pump by users from outside the community or not affiliated to the community’s organisation. So far, luckily, the amount collected has been able to cover monthly maintenance costs for the water pumps. However, with the cost of living and prices of spare parts rising dizzyingly, the communities are obliged to increase their monthly contributions and the amount payable for each 20 litres of water in order to keep the infrastructure operational. In the medium and long term, these increases appear to be unsustainable because communities will not contribute more than they can, endangering the life span of the infrastructure. Unfortunately, in Mozambique, more than one third of water pumps are out of action due to several factors, amongst them, lack of proper maintenance or replacement of spare parts.

The video below illustrates the above-described situation, and we hope it will invite us to reflect on the sustainability of the demand principle and its implication to the lifespan of water supply infrastructures in rural areas, where most of the population is poor and unable to cope with high costs incurred from the maintenance of water supply infrastructure. In it, Jaime Nhaswe is the young teacher at the Community of Matanato. He is also the Secretary for the Local Water Committee. In the footage, he tells us how the community of Metanato is organized to cope with the increasing failure of their water pumps. He also suggests replacement of actual water pumps with electric ones or powered by solar panels

You may also want to read: Social factors affecting water pump life span in South and Northern provinces.