Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Development of an Economical and Sustainable Irrigation Ram Pump for Community Gardening in South Africa
EPA Grant Number: SU833905Title: Development of an Economical and Sustainable Irrigation Ram Pump for Community Gardening in South Africa
Investigators: Ball, William P. , Meneveau, Charles , Alcock, David , McDermott, Devin , Toussaint, Etienne , Farmer, Ryan , Pank, Tom
Institution: The Johns Hopkins University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: August 15, 2008 through August 14, 2009
Project Amount: $10,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2008) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Challenge Area - Safe and Sustainable Water Resources , P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
High incidence of HIV/AIDS and the lingering effects of political violence from the Apartheid era have left the rural Zulu communities of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa impoverished and lacking basic commodities. High unemployment exacerbates the situation, forcing many surviving working age adults to seek work in urban and mining areas. In order to support all the orphaned children under their care, elderly women practice subsistence agriculture by spending anywhere from 3 to 6 hours each day hauling water from nearby streams to irrigate community gardens. In response, the Johns Hopkins Chapter of Engineers without Borders (EWB-JHU) is working with local partners in KZN to improve and promote a locally designed (“Alcock”) ram pump as an appropriate and sustainable solution. These pumps have been proven highly applicable in these hilly regions, where droughts are common but base flow in streams is abundant. The pumps use the hydraulic energy of flowing water, are built from locally available materials, and are constructed in a robust manner, ensuring long operation with minimal maintenance. Irrigation with the pump systems has shown to decrease time spent collecting water, allowing increased crop yield and possible revenues from the sale of excess vegetables. This may help supplement the limited income of each individual community gardener.
Zakhe Agricultural College (ZAC) in KZN, South Africa, is a boys’ vocational high school in which students learn basic science, math, and writing skills and gain classroom and experiential education in agricultural and husbandry practices. In conjunction with EWB-JHU and partially funded by the EPA P3 Phase I grant, students have the opportunity to learn about sustainable technologies such as the ram pump. ZAC is an important development and educational in-country partner, providing an opportunity for JHU students to install ram pumps to irrigate the ZAC garden and learn of other neighboring community gardens for additional ram pump installations. In January 2008, JHU students successfully installed a ram pump at ZAC and further strengthened its relationship with this community.
The objectives of Phase I were as follows: (1) analyze and improve the efficiency of the current Alcock pump design; (2) assess community gardens for future ram pump installation; and (3) develop a method of utilizing the ram pump as an educational tool for ZAC and JHU students. The efficiency of the current Alcock pump was analyzed by varying critical design E-2 parameters in a controlled testing environment, assessing possible increases in delivery flow (for given supply head), and quantitatively measuring reductions in construction cost or production time. During a January 2009 trip to South Africa, JHU students installed a second pump on-site at ZAC in parallel with the first to further understand any practical complications of implementation, test the pumping efficiencies of the two different pumps in operation alone and in parallel, and provide a project to develop the experimental and laboratory skills of ZAC students. A curriculum utilizing the ram pump technology as a tool for physics and math education was developed, and further refined with the input of ZAC teachers. This curriculum will be in place for ZAC student in the Fall 2009. Additionally, JHU students assessed several additional local rural community gardens as potential future sites for ram pump implementation to ensure that the Alcock pump would be an effective irrigation solution to one of the many water challenges faced by the KZN population.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The ram pump utilizes the head of a stream supplied at the intake weir and converts this energy to transport water to a delivery height with a given delivery flow. Therefore, for a given demand of delivery flow and available supply head, the delivery height will vary depending on the pump; a larger delivery height demonstrates a more productive ram pump. With a supply head of 1.5 m, the Alcock pump can provide a delivery flow of 1 L/min at a supply height of 12.7 m. In comparison, for the same supply head, commercial pumps provided the same delivery flow at a height of 8.5 m to 20 m. Based on these comparisons, the Alcock pump was determined to provide an inexpensive method of water transport that is competitive with commercial pumps.
In January 2009, the second Alcock pump was installed on-site at ZAC in parallel to the first, approximately doubling the flow of the ram pump system. The installation of the second ram pump created few complications and incurred minimal expenses, thus demonstrating the ram pump implementation to be practical for rural South Africa.
JHU students worked closely with the ZAC staff and teachers to develop a curriculum to be implemented for the Fall 2009 semester. The curriculum included math and physics principles utilized by the ram pump, and included a laboratory practical for the students to apply the scientific method and learn good data collecting practices. In addition, a working draft of an “Installation and Operations Manual” for the pump was created to serve as an educational tool of basic principles and maintenance requirements for the ZAC students. A condensed version of the manual was translated into Zulu for use by community gardeners.
As part of the community outreach component of our project, three sites were assessed for future ram pump implementation: a nonprofit daycare facility in Ndaleni, a community garden in Ndwedwe, and a community garden in Phateni. All three sites were assessed as favorable for ram pump implementation and community members were enthusiastic about the technology and future projects with EWB-JHU.
In anonymous surveys conducted of JHU students involved in the project, the majority expressed appreciation for the opportunity to apply their engineering skills to real life development applications, and are now ready to become further involved in up-coming projects. ZAC students expressed eagerness to apply in-class learning with agricultural practices, and embraced the new curriculum.
Conclusions:
Phase I of the P3 project has found the Alcock pump to be competitive with expensive commercial pumps and has found implementation to be a practical and socially acceptable solution for many rural communities. It is additionally advantageous over commercial pumps because it is locally manufactured with inexpensive, widely available parts and requires simple and minimal maintenance. The practical and scientific aspects of the pump served as a powerful education tool for both JHU and ZAC students.
Proposed Phase II Objectives and Strategies
Phase II of this project aims to develop a method of sustainable manufacturing and implementation of the Alcock ram pumps and to further utilize the technology as a means to teach engineering principles. A manufacturing and testing facility will be installed at Zakhe Agricultural College (ZAC), where students will learn how to characterize, manufacture, and locally distribute the Alcock pump. By allowing ram pump manufacturing to be controlled locally, a sustainable method of widely distributing the ram pump technology will be developed while simultaneously reducing long-term out-of-country expenses. Manufacturing at ZAC will also increase the production capacity, currently limited to David Alcock’s sole production, allowing the technology to make a larger impact in KZN, and potentially South Africa.
To assist in the ram pump distribution, EWB-JHU will continue to assess local KZN communities to discover where the Alcock pump effectively provides a solution to the community’s needs. A business plan and market assessment will be developed with our incountry partners to further analyze how ram pumps manufactured at ZAC can be implemented in the most effective way.
The manufacturing and distribution of ram pump will provide a practical educational opportunity for the ZAC students that can easily be incorporated into their current learning. The new curriculum drafted from Phase I already incorporates the practical and scientific engineering aspects of the ram pump. JHU students will further work with the ZAC faculty to evaluate and adjust the curriculum to provide the most beneficial teaching. By teaching the future farmers and engineers of South Africa the practical and scientific engineering principles of the ram pump, a sustainable method of distributing the Alcock pump to commercial and subsistence farmers will be generated, benefitting communities throughout the region.
In addition, ZAC will demonstrate the use and benefits of two ram pumps along with other sustainable agricultural tools through the creation of an agricultural demonstration center. In this demonstration center, local farmers and students can come and learn about the practical and technical engineering of the ram pump, further promoting the use of this sustainable technology.
Supplemental Keywords:
Health effects, sensitive populations, susceptibility, education, water transport, sustainable development, eco-friendly technology.Relevant Websites:
http://www.ewb.jhu.eduhttp://www.dairyconnect.co.za/dairyMail/issues/jan2008/windingroad.djhtml
http://research.hopkinsglobalhealth.org/GlobalProjectDetail.cfm?project_id=7598&country_cod e=US
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.