Way back in 1987 Ronnie Stuiver, a borehole driller, was inspired by the energy of the children playing around him as he drilled for water in a rural part of the Eastern Cape. He wanted to harness their energy in a fun way and provide an alternative to the laborious hand pump that was used for drawing borehole water.
The result was the Play-Pump, which is now patented worldwide. It's an easily maintained (just two moving parts) playground roundabout that drives conventional borehole pumps - without requiring diesel, solar or wind power. It can pump 1 400l/hr from a depth of 40 m, and is effective up to 100 m. A typical hand pump installation cannot compete with this delivery rate, even with substantial effort.
But Stuiver was unable to commercialise his invention, so in 1997 he granted the marketing rights to Trevor Field, a marketing man, who formed Roundabout Outdoor and partnered the water affairs & forestry department to take these devices into rural areas that don't have running water.
So far about 400 roundabouts have been installed in areas from the Eastern Cape to Limpopo. And funding for the installation of another 500 is being secured.
Because of the cost, about R50 000/pump (which includes installation and maintenance for 16 years), donor funding is required. This was forthcoming after the product won the World Bank's annual Development Marketplace Award in 2000, which led to support from the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, the US's ClearWater Project and Coca-Cola Africa.
The water is pumped into a tank 7 m off the ground. The height makes it a perfect advertising medium. Two sides of the tank are used for HIV/Aids awareness messages and the other two are used for advertising. Because SA is not alone in its attempts to provide isolated communities with easily accessed potable water, Roundabout Outdoor is now exploring export opportunities.
