The authors of this paper, and the authors of the ~25 papers that they've cited, present data that proves what many of us who have lived and worked in sub Sahara Africa (SSA) impressionistically know from our own observations, namely that women and girls perform most of the transport work, not only of water, but of firewood, farm inputs, harvested crops, grain to grinding mill, and goods to market. Most of these transport chores are performed by headloading, and thus limited to some 20 liters of water or some 20 kilograms of weight.
What the paper neither mentions or suggests, is some solution to the need for transporting not only water, but all of the other goods and materials that need to be transported by African subsistence farmers as well as by poor urbanites.
I suggest that there is only one such transport technology that is both appropriate to the needs of these very impoverished communities, as well as being affordable to their minimal purchasing power. The two-wheeled lightweight handcart is a mature, affordable, and ergonomically efficient means of wheeled transport that is ideal for transporting water, especially when fitted out with suitable containers such as readily available and affordable plastic jerry cans to contain the water.
These carts, built of welded steel have been in use for decades in African cities in Tanzania and Nigeria, by men selling water in townships remote from the water mains. See a photo of one such cart here: < http://www.mercurypoisoni... > Some of these carts are based on fragile and relatively expensive bicycle wheels, and are not only beyond the means of poor farmers, but are unsuited to the rigors of off-road use. The purpose-built handcart wheels are generally unavailable in most of SSA
The handcart best suited to the masses of poor African subsistence farmers is made with Chinese handcart wheels, wholesaling at the many factories that manufacture them for as little as US$2.00 each.
Here in New York City these 10 inch diameter retail for ~$5.00 each. Examples can be seen at
< http://www.alibaba.com/pr... > These wheels are rugged, have high flotation over soft ground, and are ergonomically efficient, with pneumatic tires and ball bearing hubs. See Dennis (1993) at < http://www.mercurypoisoni... > for details. Larger diameter wheels are easier to propel over irregular terrain, but are generally too expensive for the subsistence farming sector.

The reader can safely assume that most members of thethe academic as well as development communities are familiar with two-wheeled handcarts in the form of wheeled luggage, which only became commercially available in the 1980's. < http://stuckattheairport.... >

Just why this water transport technology has been and continues to be ignored, is a good topic for academic research, but the energy expended on it would be better spent on making handcarts commercially available in SSA by encouraging the commercial availability of the essential Chinese wheel-axle sets at affordable prices, by means of importing them by the container load and manufacturing them in small factories IKEA style to be assembled and sold in local shops. Making micro-finance loans available would enhance their affordability.

Details are available on the Malawi Handcart Project web site
< www.mercurypoisoningproje... > and from me directly at mercurywendroff@mindspring,com or telephone at 1 718 499 8336