Installing a water pump in community

Q: we would like to utilise our wedding to raise money to buy a (solar) pump or two and then spend our honeymoon installing it in a community which really needs it. Could you help us?
(couple from Australia)

Answer: Nice idea! Please find below some remarks and suggestions how you could go about it.

Please keep in mind that the other way around might be more appropriate: look at what the community needs and act accordingly, in stead of selecting the technology for them. It might even be that they will benefit more by providing feed for donkeys; strong netting so animals do not eat their crops; or by giving women tools and seeds to start small market gardens, than by giving a solar pump which they might not be able to maintain.

In the publication: "Linking Technology Choice with Operation and Maintenance for Low-Cost Water Supply and Sanitation (2.40 MB)" two basic principles are outlined:
1) communities need to be involved in selecting technologies from the start of the process,
2) planners should adopt a demand-driven approach.

This guidance manual is designed to help in the selection of rural and low-income water supply and sanitation technologies. Part I provides an introduction to operation and maintenance and the factors influencing technology choice. Part II comprises 50 illustrated fact sheets on various low-cost water supply and sanitation technologies.

ORGANISATIONS to contact for more information on (solar) pumps, and for information on their projects and communities they are involved in:

Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN)
Formerly called the "Handpump Technology Network"(HTN) aims to facilitate the provision of safe water and sanitation to the poor and deprived through the promotion of sustainable technologies - primarily hand-pump technology - that are affordable and responsive to the needs of the users.
RWSN Secretariat
Skat Foundation
Vadianstrasse 42
CH-9000 St.Gallen
Switzerland
- Telephone: +41 71 228 54 54
- FAX: +41 71 228 54 55
- E-mail: rwsn@skat.ch
- Web: http://www.rwsn.ch/

RWSN has published "Handpumps, Mechanised Pumps, Surface Water - Technology Options", a small compendium of technology options for rural water supply. Briefly describing the various types of most common handpumps and providing information on motorised pumps, including solar pumps.

Pump Aid, Water for Life
Founded in Zimbabwe, Pump Aid works to relieve poverty in Africa using appropriate and sustainable technology to provide clean water for drinking and irrigation.
- Address: 52 Priory Road
Loughborough
LE11 3PP Leicestershire
United Kingdom
- Telephone: +44 1283 713902
- E-mail: IanThorpe@pumpaid.org, karenmercer@pumpaid.org
- Web: http://www.pumpaid.org/

Further good info on the solar pump can be get from Practica Foundation based in the Netherlands. They facilitate research, development and commercial application of technology in the field of water and energy in developing countries. Practica works with a network of partner organisations that produce, promote and sell improved rural products.
http://practicafoundation.nl/technologies/solarpump.html

PUBLICATIONS

ITDG Practical Brief on solar water pumping

Smart Water Solutions,
Examples of innovative, low-cost technologies for wells, pumps, storage, irrigation and water treatment. A Joint publication of NWP, Practica, Partners for Water, IRC, SIMAVI, Agromisa, NCDO, and Aqua for All.

I hope this will help you further for your wedding. I wish you all the best, and a great day!