Theresa Mkandawire , University of Malawi – The Polytechnic

1. An analysis of handpump boreholes functionality in Malawi Theresa Mkandawire, University of Malawi – The Polytechnic

2. Presentation outline • Introduction • The problem • Objectives • Methodology • Results • Conclusions • acknowledgements

3. Introduction • Groundwater - widely used • 36% of all global domestic water • Aprimary source of water for >70% of the people in SADC region (SADC, 2014) • Received less attention compared to surface water (e.g. governance, infrastructure, research, monitoring). • 20-25% of boreholes fail within two years of construction. • More than 30% of new African groundwater supplies are non-functional within 5 years.

4. The Problem • The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) • highly ambitious goals to achieve universal access to safe and reliable water for all by 2030. • handpump water sources break down sooner than their anticipated design life • Poor functionality of water points threatens progress towards SDG on water. • Limited knowledge of causes of rapid failure of HP wells - difficult to recommend improvements and take corrective action. • Currently, there is no single accepted definition for functionality • although organisations are working towards this as a means of tracking progress towards the SDGs.

5. Objectives • To establish data on the different levels of functionality performance of handpump equipped boreholes. • To assess the performance of the local water management committees

6. Methodology • A survey 200 boreholes equipped with handpumps undertaken in 2016 in Balaka, Lilongwe Rural, Machinga, Mzimba and Nkhotakota (40 points in each district). • Location map of sampling sites of Survey 1 for Malawi • Stratified random sampling method (country stratified in geological zones representing major aquifers– then wells randomly selected) • Water quality analysis (biological, chemical, physical) • 20 questions to assess governance arrangements

7. Functionality measurement The survey used 4 functionality definition parameters (Bonsor et al., 2017): i.e. • Basic – is the water point working on day of survey (yes/no)? • Snapshot – does the water point work and provide sufficient yield (0.25 L/s)on the day of survey? • Performance – does the water point provide sufficient yield on the day of survey? is it reliable (<30 days downtime in last year) or abandoned (not worked in past year)? • water quality – as 3 above and also passes WHO water quality guideline values.

8. Survey Results Figure 2– Functionality assessed as working or not working Figure 4–Functionality performance – sufficient yield (>0.25 L/s) and reliability (<30 days downtime in the last year). Only 43% of HPBs passed the design yield, reliability and WHO standards of water quality indicators. Figure 3–Functionality assessed as working with sufficient yield (0.25 L/s)

10. Conclusions • 74% of HPBs were functional at any one point; • 66% of HPBs passed the design yield of 0.25L/s; • 55% passed the design yield and also experienced less than one month downtime within a year; and • 43% of HPBs which passed the design yield and reliability, also passed the WHO standards of water quality indicators. • The survey also indicate that the majority of the Water Management Arrangements (86%) are functional or highly functional.

12. THANK YOU