The modern water pump technologies that are currently used in rural water development are expensive, inappropriate and unsustainable. The maintenance of the pumps requires specialized knowledge, which is often not available within rural communities. Even if the communities did have the technical expertise to perform hand pump repairs, the spare parts to fix the pumps are too expensive and too hard to procure for most rural villages. This has led to many water points falling into disrepair shortly after their installation. Over forty percent of the water pumps in Malawi are non-functioning. To address the lack of sustainability, we have developed two water pumps, the ‘Abakus’ pump and the 'Nafe; pump. For more information please click on the photographs.

At Water Works, we train communities how to make and maintain the Abakus pump, so that they can provide water for themselves and their future generations without the reliance on outside assistance.