Sustainability is becoming a serious issue for water projects. Over 350.000 water pumps are donated, but how many are still in operation? What are the main reasons that projects fail or succeed? Governments and NGOs are puzzled. It's indeed a complex matter, statistics show (see RWSN report 4, May 2010) that now over 50% of the handpumps are abandoned.

Conclusion
The "traditional NGO approach" to donate VLOM waterpumps in Africa dramatically failed. 
Even worse,  many NGOs are aware of the fact that their water projects are not sustainable, but continue to donate VLOM pumps that don't last. More than 40 million people are again without water. Billions of funding are not well used in the end.
However, RWSN concluded that shamefully, most projects continue as before. Maybe this donor denial and unwillingness to improve is the real challenge?
If nothing will change, it is expected that within 10 years 70 to 90% of all handpumps are not anymore in operation. Clearly, the people in Africa need a more realistic and cost-effecective donor approach with 100% focus on sustainability.

FairWater proposes therefore the "BlueZones" concept. This has a focus on securing community water supply in a region, where the communities profit from economics of scale. This improves the qualty of the maintenance and keep the cost low at the same time. The concept is based on the combination of using the rock-solid, reliable BluePump with a regional professional back-up. Already with 20 - 25 BluePumps in a region, the economics of scale start to work and communities have reliable, sustainable water for a fair price.

It's a simple solution that can easily be scaled up by any NGO at only € 2.500 in a rehabilitation program to replace abandonned handpumps. The BlueZone concept works already in several African countries. It is our experiance that once a BlueZone has started, communities love it and the BlueZone is just getting larger and larger. This is the good news, there is hope. It is now just a matter of using available funding in a more sustainable way.

Why BlueZones involves the private sector?
FairWater believes that water projects in Africa should not be just "charity" to help poor people for a few years. Instead, water projects must be set-up as a serious investment for the future. The communities want and need reliable waterpumps, but don't want to be involved with repairs.
At the same time, the local private sector can use some additional activities and be involved in installation and maintenance of the pumps. Its is just a matter of bringing this together to create a sustainable process.

What is so special about these Dutch BluePumps?
-  very reliable and simple, with a maintenance free pump system
-  cheap to maintain: operating cost 5 to 10 US$ per family per year;
-  long lasting: > 15 years;
-  easy to repair in case of a problem, no complicated spare parts needed;
-  supported by a professional back-up from the private sector;
-  able to pump from up to 100m deep.

Over 400 BluePumps already provide safe & sustainable water supply to > 250 communities (> 150.000 people) for a Fair Price!

About FairWater
Fairwater basics are: "Be faithful in the least to be rewarded in the much" (Luke 16:10). 
We promote the "every drops counts" concept and awareness on being "water-wise".
Specifically, we strongly support the use of tap-water over bottled water and the JoinThePipe.org project.

Results count; In the end, it's about what people show by actions and not what they say. On a personal level this starts with small actions, like closing the tap while brushing your teeth. Save water, make a clear statement how important sustainability is for you and sponsor a BluePump.

Sponsor a FairWater BluePump in a BlueZone
For every € 2.500, - we replace a broken down handpump with a BluePump in one of our BlueZones. Companies and individuals can sponsor or pre-fianance our work. If you do so, you can see your own pump on this website with our unique "Track & Trace website" concept.

Our Sponsors
Typical FairWater sponsors are companies and people that are:
- aware of the importance of durable water supply in Africa;
- want to know what happens with their funding;
- want results that last and that can be maintained.

Click here to find out how you can become a FairWater sponsor and how to "Track & Trace" your own BluePump in Africa.

With a single drop of "FairWater"

together

we can change the world ...

"Every drop counts"