ABSTRACT
Many water harvesting projects have failed or experienced serious problems (Falkenmark et al., 2001). The main reason for the failures was the lack of an integrated approach during the planning process, especially concerning the implementation, operation, and maintenance of the systems. Lack of maintenance is a common cause of failure of well-intentioned schemes. Projects often assume that the beneficiaries will maintain the system once it is installed, but local communities may not have the resources or skills needed to do this. The cost of maintaining water harvesting structures may be too high for the local population to afford yet may still be low in comparison with the cost of installing a new system. The costs of operating and maintaining the system must thus be taken into consideration during the planning stage so that the system installed will continue to function once the project supporting its installation has ended.
