Manual Borehole Drilling as a Cost-Effective Solution for Drinking Water Access in Low-Income Contexts

Abstract

Water access remains a challenge in rural areas of low-income countries. Manual drilling technologies have the potential to enhance water access by providing a low cost drinking water alternative for communities in low and middle income countries. This paper provides an overview of the main successes and challenges experienced by manual boreholes in the last two decades. A review of the existing methods is provided, discussing their advantages and disadvantages and comparing their potential against alternatives such as excavated wells and mechanized boreholes. Manual boreholes are found to be a competitive solution in relatively soft rocks, such as unconsolidated sediments and weathered materials, as well as and in hydrogeological settings characterized by moderately shallow water tables. Ensuring professional workmanship, the development of regulatory frameworks, protection against groundwater pollution and standards for quality assurance rank among the main challenges for the future.

Effectiveness of Reducing Hardness in the Filtration Process Using Mixed Media with Detention Time Variations

“…In Kupang City itself, the community uses dug wells, especially after the postrainy season and entering the dry season, some of the community's dug wells have begun to dry up and switch to water sources derived from boreholes. Boreholes are a solution that is often used in providing access to clean water in various regions, especially in areas that have deep enough groundwater and adequate resources (Carrard et al, 2019;Martín-Loeches et al, 2020).…”

Universal Access to Safe Drinking Water: Escaping the Traps of Non-Frugal Technologies

“…In principle, there are the following three sources of water for treatment: (i) rainwater, (ii) surface water, and (iii) groundwater [7]. As groundwater is present everywhere, the groundwater depth makes the difference, thus, borehole drilling can make water available [65]. It is considered that off-grid pumping (e.g., using solar or wind energy, and manual methods) will be used to pump water from wells into the storage tank and the rest of the system will be gravity driven [66].…”

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“…Unfortunately, cities suffering water shortage contemporaneously exhibit rapid population growth and are more vulnerable to climate change. Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa fall within this group and the situation is obfuscated by poor water governance, weak water infrastructure (treatment and reticulation facilities) and policy, dearth of water professionals and technologies, increasing incidence of water pollution and short population doubling time (Martínez-Santos et al 2020;Niasse & Varis 2020). For example, in 2020, Nigerian and African populations were estimated at over 206.13 million and 1.34 billion, respectively, these populations are correspondingly projected to reach 410 million and 2.5 billion (double) in 2050 (Woldometer 2020).…”