The image of a woman in traditional dress, balancing a huge water container on her head, has become a common symbol of the picturesque life in the developing world. Yet this image also points to the harsh conditions that still exist in many parts of Africa, Asia, and South America, where villagers walk miles every day to bring water back to their homes from rivers, lakes, and local water holes. As populations have soared, those bodies of water have become depleted and polluted, often spreading cholera, dysentery, and other water-borne diseases. Three quarters of the three billion people living in developing countries lack adequate drinking water and sanitation facilities.

Luckily, there is one basic filter for water everywhere: the soil. Pumping ground water from local wells greatly improves health in villages. However, the task of making economical, reliable pumps for the developing world is staggering. It has been estimated that 20 million pumps are needed worldwide.

A Canadian agency has responded to the challenge. In 1978, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) asked researchers at Waterloo University to design a hand pump that would be inexpensive enough for poorer countries to afford, durable enough to stand up to 18 hours a day of continuous use, yet simple enough for villagers to maintain and repair themselves. The pumps would also have to be designed so that they could be manufactured within the developing countries, creating jobs for local populations and making spare parts readily available.

The Mennonite Example
A new Historica Minute dramatizes the breakthrough that made the Waterloo pump successful. Instead of looking for a high-tech solution, the researchers turned to a simple, local example. Mennonite farmers in the Waterloo area of Ontario had been using a practical, reliable hand pump for generations. This Mennonite pump became the basis for the researchers' design.

The Waterloo group, however, did make some critical improvements to the design. By making certain underground parts of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), they came up with an inexpensive pump that was light, sturdy, easy to install, and needed little maintenance. PVC is a material that is readily produced in developing countries. It does not rust, and gives water a better taste and odour than cast iron hand pumps.

The basic Waterloo design has been adapted for different conditions around the world. For example, the spigots in Malawi are made of black metal because hyenas thought that the earlier white plastic spigots looked like bone and chewed them to bits. The pumps can now use hand-made leather washers, thanks to innovative Sri Lankan villagers who made leather replacements when the plastic rings in their pumps wore out.

The most successful adaptation of the Waterloo pump to date is the UNIMADE model, developed at the University of Malaya and used in 13 countries. The UNIMADE design is constantly being revised, based on improvements in materials and responses from its many users. Tens of thousands of these practical PVC pumps are in use today.

"The Women of the Pump" The impact of this Canadian designed hand pump can be appreciated with a story from Sri Lanka, where it has become a key component in the Sarvodaya Movement's rural development projects. Sarvodaya, which means "all-awakening" or "consciousness raising," was founded in 1958 by Agangame Tudor Ariyaratne, a Colombo teacher who was inspired by Buddhist philosophy and the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi. The goal of the movement is to motivate villagers with the ethic of "service to others" in order to create co-operative village improvement. Sarvodaya has become very successful in setting up community development projects, and is now the largest non-governmental agency in Sri Lanka.

The goal of Sarvodaya's "Women of the Pump" programme is not only to provide Waterloo hand pumps to villages, but to train women to manufacture, install, and maintain them. "Since women are the primary users, we decided that the technology should be transferred to them," says Sathis de Mel, the movement's Administrative Secretary. Thus, the participating village women learn hand pump technology, metal work, carpentry, masonry, shallow-well drilling techniques, health and sanitation management, accounting, and village-level economics. In addition, they train other women in those skills, as well as in the local manufacture of many of the tools necessary to make and maintain the pumps [axes, knives, and coconut scrapers].

In the spirit of the Sarvodaya movement, when the "Women of the Pump" organize a village to install a pump, they involve the entire community in volunteer labour. The end result is not only better sanitation and improved local economy, but a heightened sense of cooperation. The life of the village is strengthened through the combined effort of the villagers and the introduction of a practical, locally based technology.

From a Mennonite farm in Ontario and through a Canadian university laboratory to villages throughout the developing world, the spread of the Waterloo hand pump is one example of how Canada takes a leading role in constructive global change.

Historica Minute Cast

CIDA worker		Robert Kennedy
Kenyan Father		Charlton O'Biero
Mennonite Father		Steve Zirnis
Translator		Sibongile Nene
Kenyan Mother		Linette O'Biero
Mennonite Mother		Caroline Yeager
Kenyan Daughter		Caroline O'Biero
Additional Cast		Michael Caruana
Additional Cast		Zoe Kunschner
Additional Cast		Sokoine Mayenga
Additional Cast		Paul Miller
Additional Cast		Julian Schwaiger
Additional Cast		Philip Shepherd