Rope Pump Research Articles

Assessing Challenges of Potable Water Supply, Demand and Enhancing Sustainability

This paper presents the challenges of water supply demand and enhancing water sustainability in rural areas. Data collected from field observation, regional water offices and officials, questionnaires and community responses were conducted. Data from the selected districts of the study area was discussed and analyzed. Two hundred seventeen water supply points (one hundred thirty hand-dug wells, thirty-five rope pumps, forty-eight spring development, and five shallow wells) are constructed in the study area. Among these water points, one hundred ninety-four were functional during the study time, and twenty-three were non-functional. Developed spring and rope pumps account for 22.11% and 16.12% of the total, respectively. In contrast, the hand-dug well and shallow wells as a source of water account for 59.9 % and 2.3%, respectively. The communities in the study area also use rivers and unprotected springs as water sources. This study found that the water supply in the study area is far less adequate for multiple reasons. The rural water supply system fails due to inappropriate design and underestimating population growth while designing water supply by considering only the existing population. The social and economic importance of providing a potable water supply is widely recognized. The study elicited why water supply systems have become inadequate in the area. This study may be helpful to have sufficient information before launching significant investments in rural water supply works.

Do rope and washer pumps provide safe water and satisfied users? A case study piloting new rural water supply technology in Rumphi District, Malawi

Innovation is needed to develop rural water supply to support sub-Saharan Africa communities that are hard to reach. The purpose of this study was to critically review rope and washer pumps that have been installed on manually drilled boreholes in 48 communities as part of a pilot project in Rumphi District, Malawi, and which serve as a sustainable source of drinking water from both technical (water quality and functionality) and social (user satisfaction) perspectives. At each water source, an infrastructure checklist was used (n = 48); 10 users were interviewed (n = 472); and, if the pump had water, water quality samples were collected (n = 24). The results show that use of a professional driller does not guarantee a functioning rope and washer pump that produces safe water. Where the pumps were functional, most provided safe drinking water. However, only 8% (4/48) of pumps had good water quality, a flow rate of >20 L/min and a full consensus of positive satisfaction among users. Pumps are not necessarily working better or worse in more remote areas. A process of introducing and creating evaluative guidelines for new (approved) technologies for rural water supply has not been established in Malawi. Sub-Saharan African governments need to be open to innovative solutions while making sure that standards, including those for functionality, water quality, user satisfaction, private operators, and human capacity for local government regulators, are being followed to ensure safe water for rural communities.

Assessment of Suitable Areas for Home Gardens for Irrigation Potential, Water Availability, and Water-Lifting Technologies

The study was conducted in Lake Tana Basin of Ethiopia to assess potentially irrigable areas for home gardens, water availability, and feasibility of water-lifting technologies. A GIS-based Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) technique was applied to access the potential of surface and groundwater sources for irrigation. The factors affecting irrigation practice were identified and feasibility of water-lifting technologies was evaluated. Pairwise method and expert’s opinion were used to assign weights for each factor. The result showed that about 345,000 ha and 135,000 ha of land were found suitable for irrigation from the surface and groundwater sources, respectively. The rivers could address about 1–1.2% of the irrigable land during dry season without water storage structure whereas groundwater could address about 2.2–2.4% of the irrigable land, both using conventional irrigation techniques. If the seven major dams within the basin were considered, surface water potential would be increased and satisfy about 21% of the irrigable land. If rainwater harvesting techniques were used, about 76% of the basin would be suitable for irrigation. The potential of surface and groundwater was evaluated with respect to water requirements of dominant crops in the region. On the other hand, rope pump and deep well piston hand pump were found with relatively the most (26%) and the least (9%) applicable low-cost water-lifting technologies in the basin.

The handpump choice is yours: a pilot study in Rumphi District, Malawi

In sub-Saharan Africa, moving towards the Sustainable Development Goals will require an approach to water and sanitation service delivery for many rural communities where handpumps still dominate infrastructure. This paper reviews a case study of allowing users (local government and communities) in Rumphi District, Malawi, to choose a handpump model based on information about the life-cycle costs. The results indicate that there is some awareness within communities and within the local government of several handpump options for the rural water supply in the study area. Given a choice of different handpump models in the treatment communities, each community chose the rope pump. Allowing communities to choose the type of handpump model, with input from both local government and donors on low cost borehole drilling, should be considered as an innovative approach to rural water service delivery.

Low-cost water-lifting from groundwater sources: a comparison of the EMAS Pump with the Rope Pump

In sub-Saharan Africa, low-cost groundwater supply systems offer great opportunities for the current unserved population of >300 million to access drinking water. A comparative study was performed in Uganda of the EMAS Pump (designed by Escuela Movil Aguas y Saneamiento Basico) with the trade-named Rope Pump, two low-cost manual water-lifting devices appropriate to pumping from shallow groundwater sources. Pumping rates, energy expended, material costs, and construction requirements were analyzed. Focus was on low-cost application for use in shallow groundwater systems at the household level in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The study site was northern Uganda, with testing performed at several drilled boreholes. Two variants of each pump were tested by a male and female user, pumping from multiple static water-level depths ranging from 5 to 28 m. Results demonstrated the most common version of the EMAS Pump to perform similarly to the comparable version of the Rope Pump in terms of average pumping rate at depth range 5 to 18 m (93–111%), but less so at deeper depths (63–85%). Normalized pumping rates (considering energy expended) accentuated differences between these versions of the EMAS Pump and Rope Pump (47–97%). Cost of materials to construct the EMAS Pump were 21–60% those of the Rope Pump, and EMAS Pump construction requirements were also less. Based on the assessed factors, it is concluded that the EMAS Pump has potential for success in “self-supply” groundwater systems in sub-Saharan Africa and is particularly appropriate to link with low-cost shallow groundwater sources.

Challenges of Potable Water Supply System in Rural Ethiopia: The Case of Gonji Kolela Woreda, West Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia

In rural Ethiopia, although considerable efforts have been made to improve and expand access to potable water supply, many Ethiopian rural communities still suffer from lack of safe drinking water. This research work intends to assess the challenges of potable water supply in selected rural kebeles1 of Gonji Kolela woreda2 in Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia. Survey findings of the research show that, of the total 292 sample respondents those who use hand dug well, developed spring and rope pump accounts 47.9%, 12% and 8.9% respectively. The remaining 31.2% of the respondents are still using either river or unprotected spring for their domestic consumption. Evidences from the data revealed that the challenges for adequate provision and management of improved water schemes in the study area are multifaceted including lack of adequate technical and financial support from zonal and regional water resource bureau; inadequate skilled man power; inaccessibility of underground water or intermission of the water after digging water wells; lack of adequate support from the community; inaccessibility for transportation and absence of spare parts shop and equipments in the nearby area. Thus, strengthening the institutional capacity in the planning of water supply projects at local level should be a timely measure to increase the adequacy of improved water supply and sustain the functionality of the existing improved water supply schemes of the area.

Rope Pump Modifications to Reach Greater Depths: A Service Project for Clean Water in The Gambia

Rope pumps are a locally adaptable and relatively simple technology for water retrieval that are easy to understand and repair and perform well with respect to water quality. Concern Universal - an NGO with offices in Banjul, The Gambia - was introducing the rope pump into The Gambia and needed assistance in designing a rope pump that could lift water from greater depths. Modifications to the rope pump would be needed, which became the basis of an opportunity for a student service-learning project / capstone design experience for students to develop a solution. More specifically, the design criteria were to develop an affordable, easy to use rope pump that could be used to pump water from a depth of 30 m to a storage tank 5 m above ground with a constraint of human power by a single operator. A team of undergraduate students and faculty designed, built and tested a rope pump that was similar to those used in rural Gambian villages. The team’s rope pump design, analyze, build and test process is described in this paper. The design solution began by first modeling the rope pump in a user-defined MATLAB routine to effectively determine the effects of parameters and constraints. A parametric study, where pipe diameter, number of pistons per meter of rope length, well depth and input rotational speeds were varied, was conducted. These results provide a range of conditions for using a rope pump at various depths and provided a basis for designing a pump. Experimental tests were conducted, and the results were compared to theoretical predictions. Experimental results for flow rate were within 3-18% of predicted values. To meet the client’s needs, it was determined that a rope pump with 1.27 cm (0.5 in) diameter piping, two pistons per meter, and a belt drive with gears of ratio of 1.5:1 to increase torque could raise water 35 m using operator under human-power. Additionally, alternative forms of power that would be available to the region are briefly investigated and discussed as potential future work, although further development was beyond the scope of this design project.

Quantification of human and embodied energy of improved water provided by source and household interventions

This study quantifies and compares the total embodied energy of the water produced by eight interventions – four household-level and four water source-level – used in Mali, West Africa. Total embodied energy measures the energy required to produce, install, and operate an intervention that provides or treats water over its life. This includes energy embodied in materials and human energy expended by users. Human energy, often assumed to be negligible in these types of analyses, was quantified using physical activity ratios. Embodied energy of materials was determined using the best available national economic input/output-based models. The embodied energy of water boiled with fuelwood was determined to be more than two orders of magnitude larger than water produced by any other intervention. Other interventions producing water with the largest embodied energies were the solar pump, India Mark II handpump, and the clay ceramic filter, all of which had large material energy components. The interventions with the lowest embodied energies required minimal material inputs and larger human energy inputs to collect and transport water (i.e., the improved well, rope pump, biosand filter, and household chlorination.). Results suggest there is no clear relationship between total embodied energy and the scale of an intervention (i.e., household- or source-level). However, human energy, often assumed to contribute a negligible amount to total embodied energy, was shown to be significant to all eight interventions, contributing over 90% of total embodied energy for four interventions. When the human energy was disaggregated by traditional gender roles, women performed over 99% of the labor associated with seven of the eight interventions. This has significant implications for gender equality, and underscores the importance of human energy in understanding the social impacts of drinking water interventions.

Pumping Life into Marginalized Communities: ETV's Technology Model (Innovations Case Discussion: Emprendimientos de Tecnologías para la Vida)

development was based on the principles and activities of Fundacion Gente Nueva (FGN). Both ETV and FGN are headquartered in the city of Bariloche, located in a mountainous area of Patagonia, in Argentina. ETV produces and sells appropriate technologies throughout the country, specifically targeting underprivileged communities, primarily in rural and suburban areas. The organization’s work strategy, described in this case, is based on networking with public and private organizations to reach potential customers. ETV is currently marketing a product called a rope pump, which allows people to draw water from as deep as 50 meters and raise it up to 8 meters above ground level. Highly efficient, the pump can replace other manual extraction systems. ETV also produces motor-driven versions of the rope pump, and spinning wheels that local artisans use to spin wool. ETV came into being to resolve a range of social issues, based on the understanding that most of the developments intended to improve the quality of life for people in isolated or impoverished communities never reach those people. They are left in the drawers of the technology experts, and at best win a prize for innovation. ETV’s aim is to develop a sustainable system that will allow technologies to reach those communities more easily. This concept was one of the primary motivations for developing ETV, although certainly not the only one. In fact, several factors converged to form the project.

Transferring the rope pump to Africa: A long and winding road?

Why is a proven, simple technology which offers major economic advantages apparently finding some difficulty in gaining a foothold in Africa? Could it be too cheap for donors and too expensive for users? If the answers were simple, we would either have mushrooming production or complete abandonment. It may just be that as a 'new kid on the block', requiring new ways of thinking and new policies, the transfer process will take longer than expected. This paper explores some of the undoubted advantages which have convinced so many that its adoption has major benefits which should not be ignored. However it also examines some of the weaknesses and uncertainties which may be hindering acceptance of the pump by donors, governments and end-users. Addressing these weaknesses is essential if the pump is to fulfil any real potential to contribute to MDG (Millennium Development Goal) targets for water, health and poverty alleviation.

A brief history of hand-drilled wells in Niger

Over 30 years, water supplies in parts of Niger have been transformed by private businesses hand augering and installing improved lifting devices. Can the more expensive technologies of percussion drilling and rope pumps also be adopted by the private sector?

The rope pump - an example of technology transfer

The rope pump is a low-cost pump made of readily available or easily manufactured parts. It has been widely adopted in Nicaragua, where there is considerable local demand and spare parts are availa...

How the rope pump won in Nicaragua

Following on from a previous article, the founding members of Sambas de Mecate tell the story of the further adventures of the rope pump.

The rope pump in Bolivia

A Bolivian organization devised a simple formula for rating the sustainability of technologies, and they found that, for their circumstances, the rope pump hit the bull's-eye!

The Nicaraguan rope pump

Despite numerous setbacks, the rope pump's development in Nicaragua has finally fulfilled its promoters' expectations. Even pumps installed during an emergency in an area without access to spare parts are still working.