PlayPumps

Playpumps (from South Africa) seem to be a superb concept in providing pumped water.

While children have fun spinning on the PlayPump merry-go-round (1), clean water is pumped (2) from underground (3) into a 2,500-liter tank (4), standing seven meters above the ground.

A simple tap (5) makes it easy for women and children to draw water. Excess water is diverted from the storage tank back down into the borehole (6).

The water storage tank (7) provides a rare opportunity to advertise in outlaying communities. All four sides of the tank are leased as billboards, with two sides for consumer advertising and the other two sides for health and educational messages. The revenue generated by this unique model pays for pump maintenance.

The design of the PlayPump water system makes it highly effective, easy to operate and very economical, keeping costs and maintenance to an absolute minimum.

Capable of producing up to 1,400 liters of water per hour at 16 rpm from a depth of 40 meters, it is effective up to a depth of 100 meters.

A typical hand pump installation cannot compete with the PlayPump system’s delivery rate, even with substantial effort.

Paul’s Comments:

• They seem to cost around $14,000 per installation.
• I’m not really happy with the “leased as billboards” concept!
• Another thought would be building the water tank into a radio mast.

WEDC – Water, Engineering and Development Centre

A great resource for Water & Sanitation information is WEDC at Loughborough University.
Publications List

All of these a “for purchase” publications, but a number are available as PDF files. These I have downloaded!

WHO Technical Notes for Emergencies
These four page illustrated notes have been prepared by WEDC for the World Health Organization to assist those working immediately or shortly after an emergency to plan appropriate responses to the urgent and medium-term water and sanitation needs of affected populations.

Publications to be read / researched / followed-up
http://wedc.lboro.ac.uk/resources/resource_search.php
Keyword = Congo
Keyword = Borehole

Part of WEDC is The WELL resource centre for water, sanitation and environmental health

The WELL publish a great number of guides and how-to manuals for fieldworkers. These can be found from the WELL Publications page.

There is also a separate publications list with entries on:

• WATER SUPPLY
• ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION
• ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
• MONITORING
• CROSS CUTTING ISSUES

The WELL have republished a superb series of Technical Briefs (first published in Waterlines)
Originally published individually in Waterlines, the world’s only magazine devoted entirely to low-cost water and sanitation, these highly illustrated technical briefs bring together a body of information and guidance which has already proved of great practical help to agencies and fieldworkers.

DFID Publications
The Department for International Development

Links to other resources
Publication Catalogues
Other Resource Centres
Non-DFID
International Agencies
Non-governmental organisations (NGO’s)

Lessons Learned from NGO Experiences in the Water and Sanitation Sector