Solar water pumps in Djibouti

The situation

Djibouti is an area in East Africa that lacks the modern energy sources needed for improvements in health, education, transportation, and commercial developments. There is also very little power available and what supply there is tends to be unreliable.

Traditional water pumping systems rely on diesel-run generators for power. If diesel is too expensive, or unavailable, the pumping installation failed – and the supply of clean, safe drinking water simply dried up.

The sustainable solution

What Djibouti lacks in mains electricity it makes up for in a plentiful supply of solar energy – making it an ideal location for our solar powered solutions. We were asked by UNICEF to supply 25 villages with solar powered water pumps. In addition to designing the pumping system, we installed it and provided training so that the villagers can maintain it themselves.

The outcome

For the first time, villages in Djibouti have access to clean, fresh water without the need for diesel-powered systems or the need for women and children to spend hours a day fetching and carrying water (which was often contaminated). The training we provided also means villages are equipped to manage their water supply themselves – encouraging self-sufficiency and less reliance on help from outside.