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In short
Play Pumps International is a nonprofit collaborative helping to provide easy access to clean water in rural African communities and schools. The organization offers the Play Pump system, which is a merry-go-round for kids to play on that also draws clean drinking water. Combining an element of fun with a much needed resource, kids are empowered in the water enhancing process in Africa.
The pumping system
The pumping system in actionThe pumping system reproduce the merry-go-round. They're turning around, pressuring the water from a clean, underground water source into a 2,500 liter water tank seven meters above ground. The water is then routed to a standard tap and any excess water is diverted back into the underground water source.
To provide extra income from the system, the water tank can be used as an advertising billboard. Two of the billboards are used for social, health and educational issues, while the other two are used for consumer advertising.
Each PlayPump system costs $14,000 to build and install, with 10 years guaranteed maintenance.
Benefits
The sub-Saharan region of Africa suffers from a lack of clean water unequal to any other region in the world and has the highest population of HIV and AIDS victims. The PlayPump offers not only clean water, but potentially life-saving messages that can help prevent the spread of the virus. The PlayPump won the World Bank’s Development Marketplace Award in 2000 for its effectiveness both at pumping water and communicating HIV/AIDS messages.
Apart from the health benefits to the community of clean, easily accessible drinking water, and the recreation opportunities given the children, PlayPumps allow children to spend more time in school (instead of hauling water pumped by their parents) and enable women who formerly had to transport large containers of water over great distances to spend more time at home or engaged in other activities that provide additional food or income to their families.
Play Pump also claims women also benefit from the device. "They no longer risk injury from transporting heavy containers of water over great distances, and they can use the time saved to better care for their children and start small enterprises that bring additional food and income to their families."