Wed, 07 February, 2024
Current water solutions in rural Madagascar and in Port Silanguin (in the Philippines) are quite similar, although there are more reservoirs and dams in the Philippines. Both communities often rely on water storage of water towers. One tower will store around 3 days of water for a community. This can often lead to tension between households as some families will fill as many containers as possible when the tower is full in order to guarantee their family has water for the day. If a family requires water but the tower is empty there is very little they can do about it. See below for an image of a family’s water supply for the day.
Figure 1. Madagascan families’ water supply for a day
Nanoè and the IMPHORAA project created a solution that pumps water from local wells to water towers in order to ensure that water can be available 24/7. This set-up utilises photovoltaics to power the pumps. The water is then pumped from the towers to taps where people can use the water as a pay-as-you-use system. This provides the communities water whenever they require it and reduces the need for people to wake up early in order to guarantee water for the day before the water tank is drained. IMPHORAA water pump systems and photovoltaics are designed to reduce water scarcity and allow families to spend more time providing and caring for their families.
Figure 2. Water well that supplies an IMPHORAA powered village
Figure 3. Water tower for a village
This project is supported by Innovate UKs Energy Catalyst Programme (funding by the Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office through their Transforming Energy Access Programme) and UK aid and was awarded as a “subsidy” under the UK International Obligations for Subsidy Control and delivered under Grant 90935 from Innovate UK
