PROJECT HISTORY
Project Summary
Background
Project Name: Wind pumping water supply of Kasoma Secondary school.
Location: Kasoma, Mara Region
Country: Tanzania
Purpose: School windpumping water supply
Installation: December 2003
People
End users: Kasoma Secondary school
Project developers: Peace Corps Volunteer Charles Voltz and Kasoma Secondary School Headmaster Lucas Nkoba
Funding: Local communities & international financing (Peace Corps Partnership Program, the USA Ambassador's Self Help Fund, numerous private donors across the United States)
Technology
Wind Pump: Kijito 20ft wind pump
Water Storage: 57 cubic metre water tank
Resource
Water Resource: Moderate
Wind Resource: Lake Victoria
System
The installed windpump is a Kijito 20ft. In order to guarantee high water quality, the pipe goes 40m into the lake. The windpump is located half way between the lake shore and the school and pumps the water to a 57 cubic meter stone masonry storage tank with a reinforced concrete foundation and cover, built on a hill overlooking the school, 650m from the lake. The distribution pipes then supply the entire school with water.
Maintainance
Kijito's windpumps require minimum maintenance and those tasks can be done by the customers themselves. The procedure is detailed in the Maintenance Manual. On the above left hand side pictures, Patrick Maguire is consulting it on top of the windpump prior to greasing the transmissions. On the other picture, the pipes have been previously maintained at the school and painted with four coats of bitumen paint to keep it from rusting and are re-installed.
Benefits
The main purpose of installing the system was to allow the students to spend far less time fetching water and more time in class studying, but there have been quite a few more benefits on top of that. Now that the students can bathe on campus and not in the lake the chance of them catching shistosomiasis has decreased. The water also improves the student's general health, as it is pumped from deeper in the lake where there is less fecal matter and parasites.
A project initiated by a Peace Corps Volunteer
Early in 2003 Kijito Windpower Limited (KWPL) was contacted by a young man called Charles Voltz who had come to live at Kasoma Secondary School on Lake Victoria near Musoma, Tanzania, as a Peace Corps Volunteer. He was determined that before he finished his two year tour there, he would have left a project that would be of long term benefit to the school.
The third largest Lake of Africa 650 m away, but no water at the school
The school was just a few hundred metres away from lake Victoria's shore, but there was no running water in the school, and all water had to be hand carried up from the beach by the pupils, causing them to miss class time. If he could leave behind an appropriate pumping system, he thought that would be a very worthwhile project for the school, which over 650 students currently attend, nearly 300 of them living at the school.
So he set about raising money through family and friends back in the USA as well as garnering support from the local villages, and in December 2003 KWPL had the privilege of coming down to Kasoma and installing one of our Kijito Windpumps with 20ft Rotor. Immediately, water for the kitchens, dormitory showers, and teachers' houses was at hand, and was obviously a tremendous benefit to students and staff alike.
The keys of water supply project sustainability in isolated areas: simple & reliable technology, training methodology
A year after Charles' times at the school came to and end, a new volunteer by the name of Patrick Maguire came to replace him, and he took an immediate interest in the Kijito, and contacted us a number of times concerning its spares and maintenance. Patrick had the following to say about his experience with the Kijito Windpump:
"I came to Kasoma Secondary to teach physics and math, but as a civil engineer by training, I was pleasantly surprised to find a windpump-driven water supply system at the school. Over the course of my two years there I went from knowing next to nothing about windpumps to becoming a bit of an expert in their maintenance and repair. I was able to take the system that Charles left and continue to improve it with the help of the school staff and students as well as some funding from the United States. While we ran into numerous problems with our distribution system, I never once had any trouble with the Kijito, which performed beyond expectations with minimal maintenance. Repairs and upkeep are easy enough that I was able to train a group of 14 year old students living at the school to perform basic maintenance with the supervision of a few of the teachers. The pump has truly improved the standard of living at the school and will continue to do so for years to come."
A place endowed with moderate wind regime, but constantly high windpumping performance
Even though the wind resource is moderate around the Lake Victoria, insufficient wind was never a problem. Indeed the pump is located very close to the lake, and the wind always blows inland in the afternoon, especially during the dry/windy season.
The performance of the Kijito windpump are excellent in moderate wind regime: measurements at Kasoma have shown water yields amounting to 1 liter per second in moderate/high winds!
Pumping into the 57 cubic meter stone masonry storage tank built on a hill overlooking the school, the water system supplies 20 cum meter per day. This allows 250 students living in the dorms and an additional 400 arriving during the day and the teachers' families to cook, bathe and wash their clothes with safe water. Various school clubs and dormitory students also use the water to irrigate small gardens that supplement their diet. The water is also piped into the school laboratory, where it is used in the preparation of experiments and demonstrations. Finally the windpump has also improved the water access of the local villagers.
This is just one example of how our Kijito windpumps have been used to truly benefit rural communities in East Africa and beyond, especially in areas where normal power sources such as the National Power Grid, or diesel powered engines are either not available or are very expensive in view of the constant need to pay for the electricity or fuel every month as well as maintenance.