The Zimbabwean system for organizing the maintenance of rural water supplies is a three-tiered one, corresponding to village, ward and district levels. The first tier involves the users in Waterpoint Committees at the local level, usually consisting of four members of whom one or two are designated "caretakers'. The function of the committee is to ensure the general cleanliness and good use of the pump, to undertake minor preventive maintenance, and to report breakdowns when they occur. The second tier consists of a roving Pump Minder, usually equipped with a bicycle and some tools, who provides more technical inputs to up to 50 waterpoints. He is backed up by the District Maintenance Team who have specialist skills, transport and heavy equipment. The breakdown history of 480 pumps in the 12 months preceding the study was studied in order to determine the scale of the maintenance task. -from Author