@conference {103, title = { 02.A multi sectoral approach to sustainable rural water supply in Nicaragua}, year = {Submitted}, abstract = {

A paper presented by J.H.Alberts and J.J. van der Zee (2004)

The role of the rope handpump in Nicaragua.

A low cost rope handpump for boreholes and hand-dug wells up to 70 m deep has been developed, marketed, and subsequently mass-produced in Nicaragua by local, small, privately-owned workshops since the early 1990{\textquoteright}s. It is easy to maintain and highly efficient at the family- as well as community level.

The pump has met with high social acceptance amongst rural users ever since the early, rudimentary models were first made available. By 1995 the technology became an integral part of rural water programmes implemented by NGOs and government agencies. Rural water supply coverage since then has doubled from approximately 27.5\% to 54.8\%. Of this 27.3 percentage point rise, rope pumps account for 23.6\% (or 85\% of the total increase). [authors abstract]

} }