Pumps are a blessing and a curse. They make the act of getting water from a well much easier, but they break very often and are expensive to repair. Many good wells sit unused because the pumps can't be fixed by the village. The problem is that they require routine maintenance and care that aren't provided on a local level. If a pump is used properly it could last for many many years. However, the people of Mali are not gentle people and when they grab a well handle they start slamming that thing up and down like it stole something from them. I truly believe they think the harder they pump the faster the water will come out. So, inevitably the pumps break and they return to the wells with their ropes and pulleys.
Pumps are a blessing and a curse. They make the act of getting water from a well much easier, but they break very often and are expensive to repair. Many good wells sit unused because the pumps can't be fixed by the village. The problem is that they require routine maintenance and care that aren't provided on a local level. If a pump is used properly it could last for many many years. However, the people of Mali are not gentle people and when they grab a well handle they start slamming that thing up and down like it stole something from them. I truly believe they think the harder they pump the faster the water will come out. So, inevitably the pumps break and they return to the wells with their ropes and pulleys.
... And with wells come parasites plus children falling in. In the Philippines, a community had access to a pump. However, the pump mechanism was broken and the owner had moved out of the country (but still owned the land), and the people had to haul water from not-near neighbor's pumps or wells in buckets. Major argh. However, the local gov't got an electric pump and elevated storage tank. I have no idea who funded that. I enjoyed walking by and letting the leaks cool me down on hot days.
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