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SUSTAINABLE WATER EXTRACTION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM FOR AGRICULTURAL APPLICATIONS IN NAMAWANGA, KENYA
Impact/Purpose:
mine which system is better suited for the Namawanga Community. After the adequate system is chosen, education of the community on the benefits and impacts of the system will further the mission of the “3Ps”. The project, when implemented, will increase crop yield and economic well-being of the community, decrease hunger, educate, and increase the overall quality of life for the Namawanga Community.
mine which system is better suited for the Namawanga Community. After the adequate system is chosen, education of the community on the benefits and impacts of the system will further the mission of the “3Ps”. The project, when implemented, will increase crop yield and economic well-being of the community, decrease hunger, educate, and increase the overall quality of life for the Namawanga Community.Challenge Area: Agriculture
As the world population continues to grow, there is an ever pressing need for accessible water resources in order to ensure crop yields to feed rapidly expanding communities. Certain sustainable agricultural technologies can help alleviate many of the issues surrounding this food shortage. Partnering with the non-profit organization, Least Of These International Inc., this project is designed to create a sustainable water pumping and irrigation system for the Namawanga Community in western Kenya, where current crop yields are not sufficient to adequately feed the entire community. Ease and effectiveness of use, education of users, and downstream impacts are the major challenges faced in developing a sustainable design that meets the needs of this particular community.
Creating a system that is inexpensive, robust, and uses technologies that Kenyans are (or can easily be trained to be) familiar with is paramount when choosing the final design. Due to the lack of raw data from the region, this integrated system will be innovative in that it must incorporate not only a flexible pumping system readily adaptable to a wide range of conditions, but also an irrigation system that can be easily modified to fit the particular constraints of the community. Two pumping systems will be prototyped and tested in choosing the final system design. The first system incorporates a bicycle powered rotary pump, as the bicycle is a familiar piece of equipment to the Kenyans, and there will be an abundance of local parts and mechanics. A concrete-based treadle pump was selected for the second design for its ease of use, wide acceptance, and durability. The two designs will be tested for variables including flow rate efficiencies, durability, robustness, ease of design, and ease of integration with the designed drip-irrigation system in order to deter
Description:
In order to ensure that the pumps are successful when installed for the community, working prototypes were tested, analyzed, and modified. The chief concerns of our functional analysis were the flow rate of the pump, the stability/durability of the system, total pumping head, and ease of use. Furthermore, by comparing our design data to that of other pumps that are available in Kenya we can effectively benchmark our system and determine whether it would be an advantageous choice. We were able to build and test three systems: A bicycle pump, a treadle suction pump and a treadle pressure pump.
When primed, the Namawanga bicycle pump yielded a flow rate of 1.23 m3/hr when pumping at a distance of 1.52 m through standard 5/8 in. garden hose. We found that the elapsed time from when the pumping begins and when the water reaches the end of the piping is longer at greater delivery heads. At a delivery head of 0 m the time is only 7 seconds, whereas at 3.05 meters (10 feet) the time is 2:33 minutes for the water to begin flowing out of the pipe. Furthermore at delivery heads of 1.52 meters (5 feet) and at 0 meters, there is no change flow rate as noted by the linear equations. The system was very unstable and can only be operated on very level ground.
The first Treadle pump prototype (Namawanga Suction) performed exceptionally well at 4.32 m3/hr (71 l/m) when water was pumped vertical at 1 meter through 2 inch pipe. The pump was able to handle a suction head of 2.5 meters with little difficulty, however the pump manifold did lurch under the exceptional suction pressure. Namawanga 1 lacked the ability to pressurize an outlet, therefore no tests were performed on delivery head.
The second Treadle Pump prototype ( Namawanga Pressure) had an approximate flow rate of 1.02 m3/hr when the water was pumped approximately 0.75 meters vertically through 3 meters of standard 5/8 in. garden hose. It also had little difficulty pumping vertically from a source 3 meters below to a delivery 3 meters above, yielding a 6m total tested pumping head.