Sometimes the best solution to a problem just doesn't exist yet and sometimes the solution already exists but just needs some modifications. In such circumstances we are very fortunate to be able to call upon a group of forward thinking friends who could best be described as problem solvers. Some of these people come from construction backgrounds, some engineering and others are just forward thinking people with unique skills that wanted to get involved.

Challenge; Sanitation is as big a problem in sub-Saharan Africa as the lack of clean water, for many years the solution has been pit latrines. Pit latrines are easy to construct and relatively inexpensive, so in the past they seemed like a good solution. The problem with pit latrines is they are basically large pits that over time fill up with effluent. They do nothing to dispose of the sewage and unlike similar systems in the west that are pumped out, in Africa they are basically sealed up and discarded as another similar toilet is built somewhere else.

This is a huge problem for large schools that soon find the school property has several large toxic areas that can not be used for anything as more and more sealed up pit latrines accumulate. Also in areas prone to flooding there is a vastly increased risk of ground water contamination caused by pit latrines each year when the rain starts.

Solution; A septic system that actually stops sewage accumulating. The delayed septic system removes oxygen from the sewage by covering it with water. This allows the good micro-bacteria to get to work on the pathogens in the effluent, essentially eating the pathogens. The flow is controlled by large river rocks which increase the surface area for the micro-bacteria to work on. The whole system is explained on the drawings for the delayed septic which we will happily send you if you contact us by clicking the link here

Challenge; There are far more villages that need water than there are drilling rigs operating in sub-Saharan Africa and often our drillers are booked month in advance.

Solution; The man powered percussion drill.
One of our friends designed a drilling rig that is basically a large weight with a drill bit type head on the end of it. The weight is on a pulley and works by four guys pulling on the rope so the weight rises up. The weight is then dropped displacing the dirt it makes contact with on impact. The loosened dirt is the removed using a bailer which is also on a rope, once this dirt has been removed the weight dropping commences. Using this method last year four guys were able to drill just over 4 feet in as many hours. It is definitely slower than using a large drilling rig, but after the cost of the fabrication of the rig, the actual drilling of the well costs nothing and the villagers get to drill their own well.

For more details on the drilling rig please email us by clicking here

Challenge; Fluoride in the ground water supply.
Fluoride is a naturally occuring mineral that in small amounts is quite common in water, however in high enough concentrations it can be highly poisonous. The US approved safe level of fluoride is 4mg/liter, whereas we have found water supplies with levels as high as 27 mg/l which is said to cause immediate sickness.

Solution; The water needs to be filtered with something that will remove the fluoride, but it has to utilize a method that will be practical for use in rural Africa, which means it uses no power, is cheap to make and install and has to be made from readily available materials. The solution we found was charbone filtering. Charbone filtering is commonly used in sugar maufacturing and as this is a big industry in Africa all of the materials were easy to locate. To read more about charbone filtering please e-mail us by clicking here.

Challenge; The complete water system would be too hard to implement at a specific school, but something better than a pit latrine is needed.

Solution; A pit latrine conversion. A standard pit latrine can be converted to dispose of effluent rather than just collect it. Adding enough water to a regular pit latrine so that it covers the waste will allow the good micro-bacteria to start eating at least some of the pathogens. This simple modification will increase the life span of a regular pit latrine by up to four times as long. Of course there will need to be a well installed first to suplly sufficient water. For more details please e-mail us by clicking here

Challenge; The area that needs water is located too high in altitude to reach the water table using a handpump and the regular rainwater harvesting tanks do not yield enough water to support the amount of people in the area.

Solution; A rainwater harvesting structure, much bigger than any of the esisting tanks in the area. For details please e-mail us here.

Challenge; It takes time to build toilets and all the work has to be done onsite by our trained drillers. A way of cutting down the amount of time it takes onsite would be preferable.

Solution; The 5x5 toilet block: When large items or large amounts of things are shipped around the world, they are generally shipped in steel shipoping containers. These containers are moved around by sea and by land and after a while are often discarded. Our good friend Peter had the idea of building a toilet block that consists of 5 boys toilets and 5 girls toilets in on of these shipping containers. They come pre-plumbed and are basically ready to be connected to either a pit latrine or one of our delayed septic systems. The installation takes less than a day once the foundation has been prepped and they are easilly shipped on the back of trucks.

Having water at the well is great, but how about water distibution?

Solution; The Roundabout Pump, Like a lot of the technology we use we did not create or claim to create the roundabout pump, the idea has been in use for decades if not longer. The first modification we made was rather than in the prospecting days where a donkey pumped water out of the ground using a roundabout, our pump is a distibution system. The motion of kids playing on the roundabout is converted to an up and down motion which forces water through a 'stuffer box'. The pump can propel water as far as 80 meters straight up in the air. This allows the hand pump to not be near the toilets and septics which reduces the risk of ground water contamination. To download the drawings of the roundabout pump click here. Note this drawing was for our original pump which was adapted from the axle of an old truck. The new pump we make is actually built from scratch, but the same physics applies and it works in the same way.

To request the drawings of our complete water system please click here.