6.4.1  Spare parts

Many water treatment and supply systems fail because of a lack of spare parts. Managers should be proactive and order adequate quantities of the parts that fail frequently. Doing this has the benefit of allowing repairs to be undertaken immediately, instead of time being spent going to the market to search for the appropriate part.

Standardisation (meaning keeping everything the same) of equipment and parts benefits operation and maintenance because fewer types of each part need to be stocked (thus making stock management easier), and purchasing bulk quantities of the same type of part brings savings. Standardisation also reduces the number of skills required to install and maintain equipment, so that more members of staff would be able to carry out the work(Barreto Dillon, n.d.).