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Rural boreholes and wells in Africa —economics of construction in hard rock terraina

Africa's unmet needs in water supply are enormous and widespread, especially in rural settings. This article looks at a basic type of water supply: low‐yielding point sources tapping groundwater through boreholes and hand‐dug wells. Data were obtained from three projects in a high‐rainfall nation in West Africa and one project in a country in the arid Horn of Africa. The four projects comprised a total of 603 water points (the collective term for boreholes and dug wells tapping groundwater). Analysis of detailed financial and engineering data from both productive and unproductive water points helped pinpoint a principal problem in establishing even basic water supplies, i.e., their low success rate and resulting high costs. Simple engineering, economic, and human guidelines are suggested to reduce the costs of rural boreholes and wells and to improve success rates. The study suggests that rural water points should cost approximately $200/m ($61/ft). Although evidence from several other African nations indicates that prices are often considerably higher, the author attributes much of this increase to the fact that central authorities, rather than the users themselves, assume responsibility for supply implementation and maintenance. The four projects led to the privatization of the rural water supply in the West African country and opened up the sector to competitive bidding in the Horn of Africa nation.