Why technology alone is not enough – Part 5

We pull up to the small spare parts store in the regional capital city of Tamale, home to roughly 300,000 people. Inside the shop, the shelves are lined with mechanical parts to repair a variety of rural water pumps – handles for Afridev handpumps, no-return check valves for Nira pumps, rubber seals, washers, pumprods, suction pipes, pump spouts, PVC piping: all things that can come in quite handy in the rugged rural landscape of small Ghanaian communities.

It’s unfortunate that these stores aren’t more widespread. As it stands, replacement parts for rural equipment are often a rarity in Northern Ghana. One well I inspected in a small village stands out as a sad example of this problem. The handpump for this well was nearly complete, with all parts available save for one – a simple plunger seal. Apparently the pump installer had discovered midway through installation that the seal was missing, and had stopped his work. Sadly, he died before returning to complete the job.

But the community didn’t know where to find this simple part to complete their well. The lack of one small seal meant they couldn’t gain access to a safe source of water. This drove home the point that seemingly small problems can derail entire projects when the proper resources and training aren’t put in place to address them.

I hope to be able to help work towards a solution to this problem by training water and sanitation officers in data collection and management. If they can keep careful track of the pump breakdowns in their district, they can advocate to donors and to local government to get the necessary supplies put in place. They can also assist the communities in acquiring these parts, and in having the repairs carried out.

Furthermore, by keeping an eye on the date of installation of the facilities, these officers can use average rates of deterioration to help communities predict when breakdowns may occur, in order to help them perform preventative maintenance and to encourage them to save money towards eventual repairs.

In the spare parts shop, we find the necessary replacement valve. The technician also purchases a replacement voltage control system for their submersible pump – the current one is behaving erratically, and has nearly reached the time for replacement.

From there, we head back to Gushiegu-Karaga to help get this small town water system up and running at full capacity. I just hope that eventually, all water supply systems and water points in Ghana will be carefully tended to with the necessary parts, so that clean water will be available for everyone.

Since 2001, OSPE has been proud to support the important work of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). The Society is pleased to present this five-part series of stories highlighting the exceptional work of EWB volunteer Luke Brown, a newly minted engineering graduate hailing from London, Ontario, who is now working in Ghana, West Africa. This series is an exclusive to Society Notes.