Pump Aid
Encyclopedia
Pump Aid is an international water and sanitation charity based in Africa and the UK. The charity establishes sustainable supplies of clean water and mechanisms to create safer sanitation, using innovative yet simple technologies that can be locally maintained. Pump Aid works to improve health and support the local agriculture and economies. Rural community members can utilise the clean water source for drinking, washing, and irrigation—which can lead to generating income from their vegetable crops.
, Pump Aid had offices in Zimbabwe
, Malawi
, Liberia
, and London
, and employed more than 200 people, most of whom are national staff in Zimbabwe and Malawi trained in well-digging and water-pump installation.
The charity's 2010 turnover was .
Teachers Ian Thorpe, Tendai Mawunga and Amos Chitungo began working on a cheap and sustainable mechanism that could provide local communities with clean drinking water. They developed the Elephant Pump, a very simple design using natural resources from the communities.
The name "Elephant Pump" refers to the device's strength, shape, and reliability.
The pump can lift water from depths of 50 metres (164 ft), and can produce 1 litre (0.264172037284185 US gal) of water per second.
The Elephant Pump's design won the 1995 St Andrews Prize for the Environment
for Pump Aid. The World Bank
awarded a Development Marketplace grant in the amount of to Pump Aid in 2006, funding 1,000 pumps and enabling the development of the Elephant Toilet.
The Elephant Pump has now provided over 1 million people in rural areas of Zimbabwe and Malawi with clean, safe water.
Elephant Pumps can be maintained by poor rural communities without any assistance. Pumps are built in response to grassroots demand and in full consultation with the local community. The local community come together to assist in the building process, providing materials such as bricks, sand, stones and unskilled labour.
The Elephant Pump can also supply water for irrigating nutrition gardens where communities can grow crops to improve their diet and sell the surplus.
The cost of an Elephant Pump is a combination of two elements: ‘Hardware’ and ‘Installation’. The total cost of providing the hardware for the Elephant Pump is around £350, with small variances on items such as cement from country to country. The cost of installation can vary from country to country and region to region. It includes items such as survey cost, well digging, bricks, occasionally blasting and in country costs of staff and fuel etc. As a benchmark these have averaged in Malawi, for example, at £950 per Elephant Pump installation.
The Elephant Toilet was designed by Pump Aid to use locally-sourced materials and provide a durable, sanitary waste facility. The user squats with their feet in two depressions, the "ears" of the elephant. A shallow duct, the "trunk", slopes forward, diverting urine to a straw-filled hole where it is converted to fertiliser. By keeping urine out of the excrement pit, the excrement remains dry and therefore rots faster, preventing the latrine from overfilling as easily. This improves the lifespan of the latrine, and thereby improves sanitation.
An internal chimney uses the perforated bottom half of a plastic bottle as a cap; sunlight heats air in the cap, causing it to rise and drawing odors and flies through the chimney. The flies are trapped by the chimney system.
The Elephant Toilet was awarded the 2008 St Andrews Prize for the Environment
.
The toilets use just one bag of cement in their construction, along with castoff materials such as ballpoint pens and plastic bottles. Sesal, a local plant with antiseptic properties, is grown outside each toilet
, and users pick a leaf to use as soap.
has been a Goodwill Ambassador
for Pump Aid since 2007.
Corinne visited a Pump Aid project in Malawi in 2007. "I didn't realise just how amazing this organisation was until I went to Malawi in September," Rae told The Guardian. "We were brought up thinking of Africa as this dry, 'cursed' continent, but there is water—you just have to go down deep enough to find it."
, Pump Aid had offices in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
, Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
, and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and employed more than 200 people, most of whom are national staff in Zimbabwe and Malawi trained in well-digging and water-pump installation.
The charity's 2010 turnover was .
History
Pump Aid was founded in 1998 by three teachers working in a rural primary school in Zimbabwe. Two of their pupils fell ill from contaminated water and died.Teachers Ian Thorpe, Tendai Mawunga and Amos Chitungo began working on a cheap and sustainable mechanism that could provide local communities with clean drinking water. They developed the Elephant Pump, a very simple design using natural resources from the communities.
The Elephant Pump
The Elephant Pump, designed by Pump Aid based on a 3,000-year-old Chinese design, is built from rope, a plastic pipe, some rubber washers, and a winding wheel.The name "Elephant Pump" refers to the device's strength, shape, and reliability.
The pump can lift water from depths of 50 metres (164 ft), and can produce 1 litre (0.264172037284185 US gal) of water per second.
The Elephant Pump's design won the 1995 St Andrews Prize for the Environment
St Andrews Prize for the Environment
The St Andrews Prize for the Environment is a prize awarded by Scotland's University of St Andrews and the American integrated energy company, ConocoPhillips for recognises significant contributions to environmental conservation. The prize has been running since 1998...
for Pump Aid. The World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
awarded a Development Marketplace grant in the amount of to Pump Aid in 2006, funding 1,000 pumps and enabling the development of the Elephant Toilet.
The Elephant Pump has now provided over 1 million people in rural areas of Zimbabwe and Malawi with clean, safe water.
Elephant Pumps can be maintained by poor rural communities without any assistance. Pumps are built in response to grassroots demand and in full consultation with the local community. The local community come together to assist in the building process, providing materials such as bricks, sand, stones and unskilled labour.
The Elephant Pump can also supply water for irrigating nutrition gardens where communities can grow crops to improve their diet and sell the surplus.
The cost of an Elephant Pump is a combination of two elements: ‘Hardware’ and ‘Installation’. The total cost of providing the hardware for the Elephant Pump is around £350, with small variances on items such as cement from country to country. The cost of installation can vary from country to country and region to region. It includes items such as survey cost, well digging, bricks, occasionally blasting and in country costs of staff and fuel etc. As a benchmark these have averaged in Malawi, for example, at £950 per Elephant Pump installation.
The Elephant Toilet
Clean, safe sanitation is not available to 2.5 billion people worldwide who lack access to toilet facilities.The Elephant Toilet was designed by Pump Aid to use locally-sourced materials and provide a durable, sanitary waste facility. The user squats with their feet in two depressions, the "ears" of the elephant. A shallow duct, the "trunk", slopes forward, diverting urine to a straw-filled hole where it is converted to fertiliser. By keeping urine out of the excrement pit, the excrement remains dry and therefore rots faster, preventing the latrine from overfilling as easily. This improves the lifespan of the latrine, and thereby improves sanitation.
An internal chimney uses the perforated bottom half of a plastic bottle as a cap; sunlight heats air in the cap, causing it to rise and drawing odors and flies through the chimney. The flies are trapped by the chimney system.
The Elephant Toilet was awarded the 2008 St Andrews Prize for the Environment
St Andrews Prize for the Environment
The St Andrews Prize for the Environment is a prize awarded by Scotland's University of St Andrews and the American integrated energy company, ConocoPhillips for recognises significant contributions to environmental conservation. The prize has been running since 1998...
.
The toilets use just one bag of cement in their construction, along with castoff materials such as ballpoint pens and plastic bottles. Sesal, a local plant with antiseptic properties, is grown outside each toilet
Toilet
A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
, and users pick a leaf to use as soap.
Ambassador
International musician Corinne Bailey RaeCorinne Bailey Rae
Corinne Bailey Rae is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leeds, who released her debut album Corinne Bailey Rae in February 2006....
has been a Goodwill Ambassador
Goodwill Ambassador
Goodwill Ambassador is a collective term sometimes used as a substitute honorific title or a title of honor for an Ambassador of Goodwill; but, most appropriately for a generic recognition, it is a job position or description that is usually indicated following the name of the individual recognized...
for Pump Aid since 2007.
Corinne visited a Pump Aid project in Malawi in 2007. "I didn't realise just how amazing this organisation was until I went to Malawi in September," Rae told The Guardian. "We were brought up thinking of Africa as this dry, 'cursed' continent, but there is water—you just have to go down deep enough to find it."
External links
- Pump Aid external web site
- Live Earth external web site
- Pump Aid - Meet our members - Bond
- About Pump Aid - The Big Give