Roundabout Play Pump - Benefits

Benefits

The sub-Saharan region of Africa suffers from a lack of clean water unequal to any other region in the world and has the highest population of HIV and AIDS victims. The PlayPump offers not only clean water, but potentially life-saving messages that can help prevent the spread of the virus. The PlayPump won a World Bank Development Marketplace Award in 2000 for its effectiveness both at pumping water and communicating HIV/AIDS messages through billboards on the water towers.

Apart from the Geneva health benefits to the community of clean, easily accessible drinking water, and the recreation opportunities given the children, PlayPump systems allow children to spend more time in school (instead of hauling water pumped by their parents) and enable women who formerly had to transport large containers of water over great distances to spend more time at home or engaged in other activities that provide additional food or income to their families.

There have been comments that at $14 000 they are more expensive than traditional pumps, but this cost covers not only the equipment, but also visiting the site to ensure the school understands and accepts a PlayPump, the testing of the borehole water to make sure it is sustainable and the water is sent to a recognized laboratory to make sure it is fit for human consumption. The installation is carried out by trained installers and the cost of getting the equipment to the site is covered in the cost. All spare parts are supplied free of charge.