PLAYPUMPS: HOW THEY WORK

While children have fun spinning on the PlayPump merry-go-round (see 1 in the diagram), clean water is pumped (2) from underground (3) into a 2,500-liter tank (4), standing seven meters above the ground.

A simple tap (5) makes it easy for adults and children to draw water. Excess water is diverted from the storage tank back down into the borehole (6).

The water storage tank (7) provides a rare opportunity to advertise in outlaying communities. All four sides of the tank are leased as billboards, with two sides for consumer advertising and the other two sides for health and educational messages. The revenue generated by this unique model pays for pump maintenance.

The design of the PlayPump water system makes it highly effective, easy to operate and very economical, keeping costs and maintenance to an absolute minimum. The pump is capable of producing up to 1,400 liters of water per hour.

Benefits of the PlayPump Water System

Access to clean drinking water is the critical first step for addressing a wide range of health, education, gender and economic issues. With access, children and their families live longer, healthier lives.

While the health benefits of a clean water supply are critical, other benefits flow from the PlayPump water system as well:

• Children play and stay in school instead of hauling water. While they are having fun, children are learning self-confidence and interpersonal skills. Play stimulates bodies and minds.
  
• Women benefit too, as they no longer risk injury from transporting heavy containers of water over great distances, and they can use the time saved to better care for their children and start small enterprises that bring additional food and income to their families.
  
• Public health messages on PlayPump billboards promote healthy behaviors that limit the spread of HIV/AIDS in rural Africa. Also, in order for HIV infected people to remain healthy as long as possible, adequate water supplies and sanitary facilities are of the utmost importance. Clean water is needed to take medication.
  

In addition to helping to provide access to clean water, the PlayPump water system is uniquely sustainable and creates economic benefits.

The 2,500-liter water tank provides a rare advertising opportunity in rural communities. On each PlayPump storage tank, Roundabout Outdoor leases two sides of the raised storage tank for consumer advertising and leases the other two sides for public health messaging.