Thousands of BluePumps all over Africa today,provide 24/7 BluePump water to 500.000+ people,for less than 2 US$ per family per year.
All senior WASH experts now agree that the BluePump is the most reliable handpump on the market and the best handpump choice for Africa because it can deliver 24/7 water at the lowest cost for a community in boreholes up to 100m deep.
When we started with the BluePump project in 2009, many people thought we were crazy, they said that we could never develop a handpump that was so durable that it could last 25+ years with just a minimum on maintenance…
But we had the vision of how this could be done, using innovative quality materials and out of the box thinking, and most of all, listening to the communities in Africa what they needed and appreciated, to constantly improving the design.
But what is exactly the Unique Selling Point of the BluePump; why would your organization also prefer BluePumps for your projects and not just any other (cheaper) pump? Do as we did, listen to the people in the communities… and invest in their future.
At the end of the day, there are only 2 aspects that really count for the people in Africa:
1. Reliability (Pumps should not break down often, causing downtime without water)
2. Cost of maintenance (Including availability of spares; people have little cash)
Game-Changer
The BluePump Concept is a “Game-Changer” in the world of rural handpumps and cannot be compared with any other hand pump. It is a class on its own, due to its incredible reliable operation. That is why the BluePump rapidly became the preferred choice of the communities.
The history of handpumps
During the “International Water Decade” (1980 – 1990) many development organizations developed and used handpumps. Unfortunately, there was little time and no previous experience with handpumps and the focus was more on price, but not on durability.
This resulted in a few models (Afridev, India Mark II), but when African Governments imposed only to use these “standard” models, this stopped handpump innovation, so basically, these old designs were never updated and most water projects still use a design that is 25+ years old.
Why are BluePumps not yet used in every water project?
This is mainly a matter of time. The BluePump has quickly built up a very good reputation and is now very popular with the users (today over 500.000 people drink every day BluePump clean water) but it is on the market only since 2010. This means that many NGOs and African Governments are still not familiar with it and are used to buy standard pumps that do not last long. Change is always difficult… especially if you have to pay a bit more for a result that you only see after a few years…
However, as Oxfam pointed out (click here):
“The higher initial cost will be offset by lower maintenance cost and less nconvenience of pump downtime.”
That is precisely the “Unique Selling Point” of the BluePump; it’s durability and ease of maintenance, which is the main reason that communities all over Africa prefer BluePumps over any other hand pump.