Although the Kickstart pump is working very well in our villages, it is used only by farmers with access to water from ponds, hand-dug wells or lakes. We are concerned about the others who don’t have a nearby water source.
We realized that the KickStart hip pump hose can go down a 2” tube well to reach the water table. So we asked ourselves–what if we could find an appropriate drill to dig a hole to the water table? Then farmers could, with minimum expense, connect to water, and use the pump to bring it to the surface to irrigate their fields. (Caveat–in some circumstances this may not work–the water table can’t be deeper than 7 meters [23feet] and the terrain has to sustain drilling.)
We did extensive research and consulted with experts, but found that no one is working on the development of low-cost drilling. No “off the shelf” solution exists. After a long search, we located pictures of a drill being used for this purpose in Africa. Our staff in Cambodia, along with the farmers, is in the process of fabricating a prototype of the drill. With their expertise and resourcefulness, we are confident they will soon succeed.