Migori, Kenya: When Wycliffe Churchill Odumo was growing up in his Kamagambo village, Migori County, he was disturbed by the fact that many villagers were succumbing to water-borne diseases because of lack of clean drinking water.
He saw women and children risk their lives to fetch water from open wells and boreholes. Bothered by this, Churchill, 33, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Maseno University, started looking for a better way of drawing water.
His desire was to come up with a suitable way of pumping underground water from wells using a simple technology that relies on a non-conventional energy source.
Though there are existing manual pumps in the market, Churchill says they require substantial energy to operate and are expensive too.
A visit to Kitale in November, 2012 was a turning point in his long search for an appropriate technology for his village.
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“I came across a basic system of fetching water. I watched how it operated and basically came up with the design of a device that can effortlessly deliver underground water to the surface,’’ he says.
Since the device saves time and is pollutant-free, Churchill conceptualised the idea, developed and tested it using a dummy, later on designing the real deal.
The technology is dependent on a simple concept that relies on a cord enclosed in a sphere that encircles a pipe whose lower ending is lowered to the floor of the water well.
regular intervals
“Gaskets with slightly the same diameter as the pipe are positioned along the cord at regular intervals,” he explains.
When a wheel located on the top of the well is turned, the cord shifts through the pipe and kinetic force created by the moving gaskets results in a vacuum that draws water upward right into a spout.
The system pumps water at an average of 50 to 70 litres per minute depending on the distance from the top to the bottom of a well. “It therefore eliminates the hazardous rope and bucket technology of fetching underground water, thereby reducing risks of waterborne diseases from uncovered and open well. It also eliminates the risk of falling into a deep well and reduces time spent fetching water over long distances.”
“If properly adopted, it will help improve food security at the household level by enabling small scale horticulture dependent on irrigation and fish farming.”
The pump, he says, is low cost since it is made of locally available materials. It is also simple to maintain for it only requires simple tools.
“The parts require no special skills to service or replace. Components are light and easy to extract when need be during renovation. No specialised lifting equipment is required. Spares parts like gaskets are cheap and can be obtained locally,” he says.
After making the breakthrough and subsequently patenting the pump, bearing the brand name Pump-iTEase, he now produces the pumps on a large scale; each selling for Sh60,000. The cost is inclusive of all pump accessories. Churchill believes his invention will one day reward him handsomely.
