Video on rope pump

By Peer Water Exchange Posted on Sun 26 Jul 2009, over 14 years ago

Namaste,

Kusum had sent me a short video on the rope pump which i have now attached to the application. Project Well would be interested in seeing how it can be transferred to Bengal, while El Porvenir would be interested in seeing the adaptations.

Also, please note that there are 2 nearly identical proposals for rope pump installation and Ekoventure's application will not be reviewed but will inherit the Q&A and discussion of this one.

Rajesh

The situation v the solution

By Blue Planet Network Posted on Sun 26 Jul 2009, over 14 years ago

I don't quite understand the need v the solution.

If there is great need because of salt-water intrusion, can you expand on it?
- What is the current situation? Sources of water?
- What are the people doing now?
- What is the school situation?
- What is the health situation (you mention it will be impacted)?

If salt-water intrusion is the problem, how will the rope pump help? They will still get salt-water.

Thank you,
Rajesh

The situation v the solution

By Ekoventure Posted on Mon 27 Jul 2009, over 14 years ago

The proposed villages of Tanjore district (Ekoventure) do not face any salt water intrusion problem as of now. In the Cuddalore district (HPPI), even though there is salt water intrusion - they are in the deep aquifer and we have not faced any salt water intrusion in shallow aquifer. All the 180+ Rope pumps that were installed in our early project - Green Post Tsunami Action are in the coastal villages of Cuddalore, Villupuram, Kanchipuram and Thiruvallur districts of Tamilnadu are functioning well and are being maintained by the Community till now.

Though the localbody is taking all intiatives to provide protected water to their villages, still some households were not connected with water pipe lines and moreover the supply of water is only during a limited hours in the day.

In all most all the 60 villages we have found many defunct handpumps and the first demand from the community during our introduction meeting would be to repair/replace the hand pumps.

The rope pump installed in these villages have augmented the water need.

In Tanjore district (Ekoventure), we have proposed to install rope pumps in 3 Schools. These 3 Schools do not have any water source and the staff arrange drinking water for the Children from the near by households or have to carry water from the common community tap.

Technology:

By Project Well Posted on Mon 03 Aug 2009, over 14 years ago

It seems that the rope pump will be fixed on top of a borehole and not attached to a dugwell (seen two diffent videos). In West Bengal hand pumps (tubewells) are used that draw water from more than 350 feet. What are the advantages of these rope pumps over the hand pumps? The cost of one hand pump is Rs. 850/-. Recently a 32 feet handpump was installed that cost Rs.1700/- including the 1.5” dia pvc delivery pipe and labor charge. Cost of pvc pipe per feet is Rs. 7/- versus iron pipe that is Rs.75/-. In the old days iron pipes were used, nowadays cheap pvc pipes are in use. Project Well uses flexible pipes that floats in the dugwell water that gets adjusted with the fluctuating water level throughout the year. Fixed pipes were used initially that needed to be cut and extended with the change in the level of water during monsoon and summer seasons. Hence there was change in design. I think rope pump would be useful only to increase the popularity of dugwell due to the novel design in that part of the country. If water is withdrawn only from the deeper (bore) part of the dugwell then perhaps rope pump can be used replacing the flexible pipes. Need to discuss with the experts. Thank you Rajesh for the suggestion.

Technology:

By Ekoventure Posted on Tue 11 Aug 2009, over 14 years ago

Dear Meera Hira-Smith/Jenna Saldana

Thanks for the queries. The explanations are:

It seems that the rope pump will be fixed on top of a borehole and not attached to a dugwell (seen two diffent videos).
Ans: Rope pump can be mounted on hand dug wells of 1 to 3 meters diameter and boreholes as small as 6 cm

In West Bengal hand pumps (tubewells) are used that draw water from more than 350 feet.
Ans: Maximum pump depth of roepump with one handle is 35 m deep ( 60 meter with 2 handels)

What are the advantages of these rope pumps over the hand pumps?
Ans: The ropepump is also a hand pump but the pump principle is different. (A file is uploaded in the application). The advantges are:
Very low cost , range from 30 – 80 US$
no dynamic forces,
no corrosion in pump parts underground since all can be PVC
Simple so local production and easy to maintain for users .

Project Well uses flexible pipes that floats in the dugwell water that gets adjusted with the fluctuating water level throughout the year.
Ans: As for the rope pumps in dug wells, the PVC pipes do not float but are kept straight with the Guidebox of cement. For dug wels cement guideboxes are proposed for Boreholes the new PVC guideboxes can be used.

The parts of the pump are exposed?
Ans: Yes top PVC parts of the ropepump are exposed to sun. So advice to use thickwalled PVC pipes for that and eventually paint the pipes. (A file on different models of rope pumps is attached in the application)

Is there not a risk of contamination of the water source?
Ans: If well produced and installed (with a tapered well cover, and apron,) there is very little risk for contamination but the ropepump is a more open pump than a piston pump. If the water in the well is contaminated the pump wil not change that. If the water in the well is contaminated the part of the water used for drinking can be purified with simple filters for instance the Pureit or Siphon filter.

See more information on www.ropepumps.org

budget

By Project Well Posted on Mon 03 Aug 2009, over 14 years ago

What is meant by documentation cost?

budget and Technology

By Humana People to People India Posted on Tue 04 Aug 2009, over 14 years ago

Dear Meera Hira Smith,
With reference to your quarries - the rope pump can be fixed on open well or dug well but looking at South India it is not very common as we can see it in other places in India, South India especially TN is famous for Ponds.
Rope pump is easy to maintain good point about rope pump its is made up of local resources and women SHG's members can repair it, no need to wait for technical people or wait for long to invite technical people from outside.
Hand pumps are less cost when we install but after some time they cost us in terms of time, money and anxiety.
We installed 177 rope pumps in four districts of Tamil Nadu and they are all working in the field for last one and half year. After installation after six -eight month we find some of the ropes had small problems and still working well.
We got this technology from Practica Foundation of Netherlands if you want more information please visit there site.
Regarding documentation we have asked some funds to document the whole process and make a film on production and installation of rope pump.

thanks for participating in the discussion.

Greetings.
Kusum-HPPI

budget and Technology

By Blue Planet Network Posted on Mon 10 Aug 2009, over 14 years ago

Do both the rope pump projects need documentation?

Can only one of the 2 projects produce the film?

budget and Technology

By Humana People to People India Posted on Mon 10 Aug 2009, over 14 years ago

Dear Rajesh,
It is good if we can document both projects but I don't think we have this much of budget.
we have one person who can make good films and I tought it is good to develop something new what we are going to do with this project.

Greetings.
kusum.

budget and Technology

By Humana People to People India Posted on Mon 10 Aug 2009, over 14 years ago

Two projects are far from each other otherwise we would have manage with the same budget.

budget and Technology

By Ekoventure Posted on Mon 10 Aug 2009, over 14 years ago

Dear Rajesh,
We (Ekoventure) have not made any provision in the budget for documentation. However, we too will develop a short film during the project implementation.

The project area of HPPI and Ekoventure are located in different districts and 175Kms apart.

regards

Pushpalatha