Functionality and water quality of Elephant pumps: Implications for sustainable drinking water supplies in rural Malawi

• 68% of Elephant Pump samples met the Government groundwater standard for E. coli.
• 91% of respondents said they were very satisfied with the Elephant Pump.
• Functionality of Elephant Pumps was 78%.
• Better training of area mechanics and networks of spare parts is needed.

In 2013, our team performed a program evaluation of the sustainability and water quality of 338 Elephant Pumps in Malawi. The team tested the water quality, evaluated the pump functionality and investigated the community's satisfaction. The water in most samples (68%) conformed to the Malawi Government drinking water standard for Escherichia coli. Likewise, the nitrate concentrations were within both the Malawi Government and the WHO established standards. The functionality of the Elephant Pumps was 78% (producing water), which is comparable to the functionality rate of hand pumps in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is posited as 64%. Pumps that are working well tend to have the lowest (significantly) E. coli contamination levels. The majority of the households use the water for common household activities; however, water was also used for irrigation and commercial purposes in a limited number of cases. Ninety one percent of the respondents reported that they were very satisfied with the pump design. Although most Elephant Pumps produce water that conforms to the standards by the Malawi Government and with above average functionality, no perfect pump design exists. The performance of Elephant Pumps can still be improved through better training of area mechanics and community pump caretakers, and the availability of improved networks for spare parts.