Distribution points are where people collect piped water, and the default is a communal standpipe for every 5-8 households, no more than 200 meters from any home, each with a tap, a concrete drainage pad and a drain to a soakaway pit. Pipe water to individual homes only where supply and pressure are abundant, because every extra connection spreads the same flow thinner.
Part of Community Water System
A distribution point is the place where a community water system hands water to its users, usually a communal tap on a pad, and the choice of how many and where determines how far people carry water.
A Shared Tap Gives Most Of The Benefit For A Fraction Of The Pipe
The community water system page says not to pipe to every dwelling unless the supply is abundant and the pressure good. Start with communal standpipes: one for every 5-8 households, within 200 m of each home. Households then walk a short, known distance, the system needs fewer fittings, fewer valves and less pipe, and each tap can be given a good pad and drain.
Each standpipe needs four things:
- a tap, a gate valve or a ball valve (Tap Types)
- a concrete pad 1.5 m × 1.5 m, sloped away from the tap, to prevent mud
- a drainage channel leading away from the collecting area
- a soakaway pit at the end of the drain
The pad and drain are as important as the tap: a tap in bare ground becomes a mud pit that breeds mosquitoes and contaminates the water that people carry away.
What You Need
- A map of dwellings, with the count of households in each cluster
- A list of the taps the pipe can feed at once, considering the flow
- Cement, sand and gravel for each pad
- Rock for a soakaway at each tap
Method: Count Households, Then Place Taps
Step 1: Count households and divide by 5 and by 8 to get the range of taps needed.
Step 2: Place taps so that no home is more than 200 m away. On a map, draw a 200 m circle around each tap.
Step 3: Check flow. Each open tap draws about 0.33 L/s (a 20 L bucket in 60 s). The pipe must pass the flow of the taps that run together (Pipe Sizing).
Step 4: Build each pad and drain before the tap is used (Standpipe Construction).
Worked Example: A Village Of Forty Households
Inputs: 40 households; one standpipe per 5-8 households.
- With 8 households per tap: 40 ÷ 8 = 5 standpipes.
- With 5 households per tap: 40 ÷ 5 = 8 standpipes.
- So the range is 5 to 8. The higher figure shortens queues; the lower costs less.
If a household has 5 people (an assumption for the arithmetic) and uses 50 L per person per day, it draws 250 L, which is 250 ÷ 20 = 12.5 bucket fillings. At one minute per bucket that is 12.5 minutes of tap time. Eight households use 8 × 12.5 = 100 minutes of tap time in a day, which is a manageable load for one tap. A tap shared by 30 households would need 375 minutes, over six hours, and queues would form in the morning and evening when people draw water together.
Common Mistakes
- Putting taps where the pipe is convenient rather than where people live. The 200 m limit is about people.
- Skipping the pad. The first rain turns the tap into mud.
- Letting animals drink at the standpipe. Keep troughs away (Livestock and Irrigation).
- A tap too low. Containers touch the spout. Set it well above the rim of the tallest container.
Safety
Dirty containers contaminate the tap
A bucket that touches the spout can carry faecal bacteria into the tap and the next person’s water. Keep the spout above the container rims, keep the pad clean, and ban washing clothes and animals at the standpipe. Treat and test the supply regardless (Community Water Testing).
What’s Next
- Learn next: Standpipe Design — sizing taps, queues and flow
- Combine with: Drainage Pads — keeping the collection area clean