a summary...

Now I'm back in the UK I have had time to right up a summary of the project for the blog.

Local children help me test the example solar powered rope pump, near Mzuzu University.

The solar powered rope pump project breaks down into three main phases...

Phase One- RESEARCH
The first three weeks were spent researching the appropriate balance between pump capacity and cost.

Firstly I visited Pump Aid, an NGO which has been successfully installing hand-powered rope pumps in Zimbabwe for 10 years and has recently moved into Malawi to continue its work. The visit provided invaluable information on manufacturing techniques.

I collected information on local water requirements from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the Water Resources Board, Water Aid's Malawi office, the Department for Agriculture and the University of Mzuzu. It was decided that a pump capable of delivering between 3000 and 10,000 litres of water a day would be the most appropriate balance between pump cost and capacity. This specification would also position the pump in the market gap between hand-operated and larger automated pumps powered by diesel or photovoltaic (PV) panels.

Phase Two- SOURCING MATERIALS
The next month was spent sourcing materials and assessing local resources, hardware suppliers, manufacturing capabilities and then shipping any parts not locally available. This is probably the period of the project that I personally learnt the most from; an invaluable experience giving me knowledge otherwise unobtainable and essential for any work in the field of development engineering.

The kids pictured above couldn't afford to go to school so they used to hang out with me while I was working on the pump. As you can see, they were intrigued by its capabilities!

I'll be summarising the final stage- testing- in my next blog posting soon.

Bye for now,
Cai