Research into use of pump

Bobby Lambert, former Director of engineering relief agency RedR, recently went to Africa to explore the solar rope pump option further. Bobby is advising us with this project. Here's what he said:

Despite decades of investment in hand-pump development and in community group organisation, there remain considerable problems with delivering reliable water supply using community hand-pumps to many rural communities. Research into conventional hand-pump development continues, although technical improvements will need to be matched by developments in community ownership.

One option being examined is that of "self-supply" where individual families may be supported in developing their own water source. This could be combined with some form of community supply (an individual may be supported in developing the source, provided other community members can access it, perhaps for a small payment). Such a supply could also be used for irrigation. The rope pump is an attractive technology for this option, and a solar powered version might be of interest - as a step up from the manually operated version.

There is also considerable interest in exploring how solar power can be harnessed for drinking water. One organisation is looking at doing this for large institutions such as secondary schools and hospitals, where there would be economies of scale and more likelihood of maintenance. However, these larger scale schemes may choose more technically sophisticated options than the rope-pump.