Note: I list the following as another means to access water harvested within the soil. But only use such strategies if you are also harvesting water with earthworks in order to give back, or deposit, more water into the system than you take out, or withdrawl with pumps and wells. In addition, the smaller, human-powered scale is more likely to sustainably access shallow harvested water, rather than unsustainably mine deep fossil water.

Publications

How To Make a Rope-and-Washer Pump, by Robert Lambert, Intermediate Technology Publications, 1989.

Hand Dug Wells and Their Construction, by S.B. Watt and W. E. Wood, Intermediate Technology Publications, 1979.

Organizations/Products

PlayPumps International. Website: www.playpumps.org. This organization fabricates and funds water pumps designed as playground equipment, so children power the pumps as they are playing (fig. A6.1).

Online

Bicycle-powered water pumps. Websearch on “bicycle-powered water pumps.”

Human-powered treadle pumps. Websearch on “treadle pumps.”

http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/. This website/show “Design for the Other 90%” at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum highlights life-enhancing, practical, low-cost products designed for the 5.8 billion people of low income on this planet. These include bamboo treadle pumps, the LifeStraw water filter, the UV Bucket water filter (www.niparaja.org/cubetauv/), Potters for Peace ceramic water filter, International Development Enterprises India’s 10,000-liter plastic water storage bag, and more.

Fig. A6.1. Children playing on the PlayPumps merry-go-round provide the power to pump groundwater into the raised water tank for gravity-fed distribution. The advertisement signs around the tank help pay for the system. Courtesy of PlayPumps International. www.playpumps.org.