Le pompage photovoltaïque : une alternative pour l'approvisionnement en eau en zones péri-urbaines des pays en développement.

Burkina Faso is a tropical Sahelian country in West Africa, with a long dry season, and a rainy season characterized by high uncertainty of rainfalls. The drought and the reconstruction of certain areas during the 1980s has created shanty towns in the suburbs of large cities. Many handpumps have been installed to supply water to people in these suburban areas. Because of the growing demand for water, the authorities decided to replace some of the handpumps by diesel-powered driven pumps. Unfortunately, the high replacement costs of the equipment and the maintenance problems of this type of system make it difficult to manage. Sector 28 of Ouagadougou is a suburb without electricity or any type of conventional water supply system. For this reason, the International Water Engineering Centre (IWEC) of the University of Ottawa together with the Low Cost Water Supply and Sanitation Regional Centre (CREPA) initiated a water and sanitation project to deal with this problem. One of the main goals of the project was to install a solar water pumping unit in Sector 28 and to conduct research studies related to it. We performed an economic comparison between the solar pumping system and have other options technically able to supply the same daily low rate. These options are: diesel-powered driven pumps, handpumps, extension of the existing water supply network, pump driven by the electrical grid, and rainwater catchment cistern using roofs. All the possible scenarios have been analyzed in this study in order to draw conclusions and make recommendations about this water supply alternative. (Abstract shortened by UMI.