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Since the 1990’s the Sahelian municipality of Hombori has been equipped with manual pumps for domestic use. Cheap and easy to use they appear to be well adapted to poor populations. However, the use of pumps necessitates the purchase of spare parts and that constitutes a new situation in those areas where water is usually free of access. In fact, the donors impose their rule: “users’ committees” – have to organize the payment by the users; but some “committees” remain totally inactive whereas others invent new forms of organization where water for everybody is not the only thing at stake. So, this article shows that the process consisting to separate the pumps management from the other economic and social aspects of the local situation does not work. Finally, the procedures which drive the installation or the pumps show that the political commitment which consists in encouraging the participation of the population rarely works in practice.