Environment, Sustainability and Health

As I mentioned in class...South Africa: The Play Pump, Turning water into child's play


This is a great PBS special on a great way to get water in South Africa:
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2005/10/flwrc11.html


This is the main website of the organization:
http://www.playpumps.org/site/c.hqLNIXOEKrF/b.2559311/k.7BCB/Playpumps_International_and_the_PlayPump_water_system_Kids_play_Water_Pumps.htm

Overview:
"A life-changing and life-saving invention – the PlayPumpTM water system -- can provide easy access to clean drinking water, bring joy to children, and lead to improvements in health, education, gender equality, and economic development. The PlayPump systems are innovative, sustainable, patented water pumps powered by children at play. Installed near schools, the PlayPump system doubles as a water pump and a merry-go-round for children. The PlayPump system also provides one of the only ways to reach rural and peri-urban communities with potentially life saving public health messages."

How the PlayPump System works:
"While children have fun spinning on the PlayPump merry-go-round, clean water is pumped from underground into a 2,500-liter tank, standing seven meters above the ground. A simple tap makes it easy for women and children to draw water. Excess water is diverted from the storage tank back down into the borehole. The water storage tank 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."

PlayPump System's Progress and Future:
"To date, PlayPumps International has successfully installed more than 700 PlayPumpTM water systems in South Africa, benefiting more than a million people. Starting in 2006, PlayPumps International will increase the number of PlayPump systems in South Africa and expand to Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia. Then PlayPumps International will help bring the pumps systems to: Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Tanzania and Uganda. By 2010, the combined efforts of PlayPumps International and its partners will bring the benefits of clean drinking water to up to 10 million through the installation of 4000 play pumps in schools and communities in 10 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to providing access to drinking water, other benefits to the community will be:

• Exposure to positive social messages such as HIV/AIDS prevention and hygiene education;
• Improved hygiene and sanitation in schools; and,
• Valued play equipment."

GO MAKE A DONATION TODAY IF YOU WANT TO HELP OUT!! :o)