Repair instead of new installation

Restoration of water infrastructure

Sustainable access to clean water

In many developing countries, access to clean water remains a major challenge. While millions are being invested in new wells and water systems worldwide, it is often forgotten that existing water infrastructure needs to be regularly maintained and repaired.

As a result, thousands of theoretically functional water points lie idle in many countries. In Tanzania, an estimated 44% of all water access points are defective, and in some regions the figure is as high as 50%. These broken water points could supply millions of people with water, but they remain unused.

Why are there so many broken water points?

One major problem is the lack of sustainability of many past initiatives. Often, the focus was on building new wells without establishing long-term maintenance concepts. As soon as a pump breaks down, there is a lack of trained personnel, spare parts or financial resources for repairs.

Why repair instead of installing new pumps?

Our approach focuses on repairing broken water points instead of investing in new infrastructure. This has several advantages:

Sustainability: It is obvious that it is more sustainable to revitalize existing structures than to build new ones. The amount of resources and labor required is significantly lower.
Cost efficiency: Repairing a water point is many times cheaper than building a new well. So we can reach significantly more people with the same budget.

Our projects: Making a virtue out of necessity

With our projects, we are addressing a sustainability problem in development cooperation that has existed for decades. Instead of using resources inefficiently, we make the most of existing structures, thus creating real, long-term added value for local communities. We ensure that the facilities continue to function in the long term by training water committees, promoting financial self-management in the communities and training personnel in repair and maintenance work.