Changing the World – One Invention at a Time

We’ve all seen the videos showing the difficulty of moving water in Africa. However, it looks as if a new invention may change this. According to the website, Roundabout Outdoor:

A common sight in rural South Africa is that of water carriers covering large distances in order to fulfill their daily water requirements.

Traditional sources of water collection are from dams, springs, rivers, streams and farm reservoirs, with the introduction of boreholes where these traditional sources of water are unavailable. Until now such boreholes have been operated by handpumps as the use of modern alternatives such as diesel, petrol or electric pumps are costly to install and have the concomitant constant financial burden of fuel and maintenance costs.

The solution?

The “Playpump,” which attaches a merry-go-round to a water source. This lets children pump the water in a fun new way. It’s clean, it’s cheap, and it doesn’t even feel like work.

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Posted by Douglas Sorocco, July 12, 2005 at 9:13 am
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