Evaluation of functioning of India Mark-II and India Mark-III handpumps in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India

In the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, over 600,000 India Mark II/ Mark III handpumps have been installed over the last decade and most of the villages have access to water supply. Maintenance of handpumps is carried out by UP Jal Nigam, the implementing body. Since early efforts to transfer maintenance of India Mark II handpumps to village committees failed, India Mark III handpumps, with simple maintainability, were installed to induce community participation in maintenance and management of handpumps. Despite this, a centralized maintenance system continues and thousands of handpumps are out of order or permanently defunct. This study seeks to compare the performance of India Mark II and India Mark III handpumps installed in Uttar Pradesh in order to suggest improvements for better functioning. A general discussion of rural water supply development in India along with a more specific outline of the massive programme of water supply through handpumps is followed by a literature study focusing on the historical and developmental phase of handpumps, their functioning and technical details, and water usage and quality. The results and findings from the analysis of the field data collected in two districts of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow and Allahabad, focusing on the functioning of both types of handpumps and the maintenance procedures are described. A detailed discussion of the results of the field research follows and the paper concludes with a list of recommendations for improvements to the handpump water supply system. It is hoped that this study will help planners, policy makers and designers to identify the root causes of problems and viable solutions for future applications.