Development Ratings

The Pump Aid programme provides water pumps, low cost toilet facilities, nutrition gardens and tree planting, and hygiene training to poor, rural communities in Zimbabwe and Malawi. The four areas make up equally important components of the combined ‘health and food production’ approach. The facilities are installed in areas where the water table is high enough that groundwater can be reliably harvested, even in the dry season.

• The Elephant Pump is made from local materials to a robust and simple design. A well is dug to 20-30m, with sand back-filled behind a brick lining. Groundwater seeps through the sand, filtering it of debris and parasites. Most materials used are locally available, such as sand, bricks, nylon rope (or sisal rope woven from the sisal plant), and plastic washers which can be made from waste plastic bags. PVC piping and concrete for the housing and protective rings need to be brought in from further away. Winding the handle lifts the washers up the piping, bringing a short column of water up with each washer. About 1 litre of clean water is lifted every second for a 20m deep well. School Elephant Pumps use a bicycle system for rope winding. Burrowing animals are stopped from entering the well by a concrete ring around the well, as well as a housing and lid to fully protect it from contamination.

• The community provides the sand and bricks, digs the well, and helps construct the pump. This brings a sense of ownership and an understanding of the design so that repairs can be made independently. When several pumps have been installed in an area, groups from the communities are trained in establishing nutrition gardens, and in hygiene and maintenance. The importance of washing hands before replacing any pump parts to maintain the quality of the water source is especially stressed.

• Each pump provides about 500 people with 20 litres of water per day, or 250 people with 40 litres.

• The Elephant Toilet design uses a concrete slab over a simple pit latrine, inside a mud-brick-and-thatch housing. The slab redirects most of the urine to a compost pit, to supply compost for the nutrition gardens, and to improve faecal decomposition. An air vent pipe is topped with a plastic container pierced with air holes to improve ventilation and trap flies. This stops the flies distributing potentially infected faecal matter to nearby homes or onto food. When the pit is full, the concrete slab can be moved to a new latrine site, and a fruiting tree planted on the old site. A soap plant, Seso, is grown near the latrine so that a leaf can be used for washing hands. The cheapness and simplicity of the design makes it more practical for use than more solidly built systems installed by other charities.

Pump Aid uses a participatory approach for establishing new pump sites. This starts with a demonstration pump usually built at a school, and involves workshops, public meetings and interviews. Over 10,000 pumps and toilets are to be installed over the next 3-4 years. In Malawi and Zimbabwe, around 75% of the rural population has reliable water supplies at depths of not more than 30 metres. This means that Pump Aid’s technology is appropriate in these areas. In summer 2008, Pump Aid, as all NGOs, was banned from working in Zimbabwe by the authorities. Operations were moved to Malawi where 110 demonstration pumps have been installed. In Malawi, a social enterprise model is being considered, where pumps may be sold to some communities. Pump Aid won one of the 2006 World Bank Development Marketplace Competition awards and the St. Andrews Prize for the Environment in 2005.