雙語閱讀｜為非洲農村輸送飲用水的良方

IN THE mid-2000s Playpumps International, a charity, hit on a photogenic way of providing clean water to African villages: a pump powered by children playing on a merry-go-round. Donors and celebrities pledged more than $16m. But the system was costlier than alternatives, and needed so much 「playing」 that it started to look like thinly disguised child labour. It became a byword for wasteful Western aid—but far from the only example.

在本世紀頭十年中期，慈善機構Playpumps International曾提出一個吸引人的點子：在缺水的村莊建立旋轉遊樂設施，利用兒童轉動設施所產生的動力帶動水泵抽取地下水，從而解決當地居民飲用水問題。當時，慈善家和名人承諾為Playpumps提供超過1600萬美元資金支持。但是，這種水泵比其他水泵要貴，兒童需要「玩」很長時間才能泵出足夠的水，這使得整個項目看起來就像是在變相使用童工。這個項目成了浪費西方援助的代表—不過，這並非孤例。

At any time around a third of the water infrastructure in rural sub-Saharan Africa, from hand pumps to solar-powered systems, is broken. Even after spending billions of dollars, most donors still cannot ensure the pumps they pay for are maintained (just 5% of rural Africans have access to piped water). Many of the village committees responsible for collecting the fees that should cover repairs are corrupt.

撒哈拉以南非洲農村地區的供水設施，從手壓水泵到太陽能水泵，有大約三分之一都隨時處於損壞狀態。即便大多數捐贈者耗費數十億美元購置這些水泵，依然無法確保水泵能得到保養和維護（非洲農村地區只有5% 的人口喝上了自來水）。很多負責收取維護費用的村委會都存在貪污腐敗問題。

More often, though, villagers simply struggle to gather money, find a mechanic and obtain spare parts, says Johanna Koehler of Oxford University. Kerr Lien, a village in central Gambia, reverted to using a manual well for nine years after the inhabitants were unable to fix a fault in their solar-powered pump. There are 「lots of white elephants everywhere」, says Alison Wedgwood, a founder of eWATER, a British startup that aims to solve many of these problems. Its solar-powered taps, 110 of which have been installed in Kerr Lien and six other Gambian villages, dispense water in response to electronic tags. The tags are topped up by shopkeepers using smartphones; 20 litres of water cost 0.50 dalasi (1 cent), and 85% of the payment is set aside to cover future repairs. The taps are connected to the mobile network, so they can transmit usage data to alert mechanics to problems. eWATER hopes to have 500 taps serving 50,000 people in Gambia and Tanzania by the end of 2017.

牛津大學的Johanna Koehler說：「不過，更多時候，村民們只顧努力籌錢，找修理工，買零件」。是甘比亞中部的村莊Kerr Lien的居民因為無法修理好太陽能水泵，只好又採用原來人工從水井打水的方式，至今持續了九年。eWater是英國一家旨在解決這些用水問題的創業公司，其創始人Alison Wedgwood表示「這裡到處都是面子工程」。Kerr Lien以及甘比亞其他6個村莊都安裝了該公司的太陽能水龍頭，水龍頭根據電子標籤的指示來放水。電子標籤可以通過商店店主用智能手機充值；20公升水需充值0.5達拉西，充值費的85%是用於未來的設備修理。電子標籤與移動網路連接，維修人員通過傳來的使用數據判斷是否出現問題。eWater 希望到2017年底在甘比亞和坦尚尼亞安裝500個這樣的水龍頭，使50000人能受益。

Since they are paying for it, the women and girls who collect the water also take more care now not to spill any, leaving fewer puddles in which mosquitos can breed. Most important, though, is to fix broken pumps quickly. In Kenya Ms Koehler found villagers were prepared to pay five times as much for water so long as their pumps were fixed within three days, compared with the previous average of 27.

由於這種水龍頭是自己打水自己出錢，婦女和女孩接水時都更加小心，不讓水溢出來，地上的水坑少了，相應的蚊子也少了。然而，最重要的是，損壞的水泵能得到儘快地修理。科勒發現，在肯亞，比起之前平均等27天水泵才能修好，只要能在3天內修好水泵，村民們更願意花5倍的價格來買水。

Startups like these could transform rural water provision in Africa, just as they are doing with solar-powered electricity. Twelve-year-old Isatou Jallow will still wash her family』s clothes with well water every week. But there will soon be a drinking tap just outside her house. That means more time studying, instead of spending afternoons laboriously fetching water from far away. It also means loftier ambitions. 「I want to be a government minister,」 she says.

這類創業企業正在改變著太陽能電力輸送方式，同樣地，它們也在改變非洲的供水方式。12歲的Isatou Jallow每周還會用井水洗全家人的衣服。不過，很快她家外面就會裝上水龍頭。這樣她就不用中午很辛苦地從遠處運水回來，有更多的學習時間，也讓她能夠擁有更遠大的理想。她說：「長大后我想當政府部長。」

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