Worldwide Use
Windpumps are used extensively in Southern Africa, Australia, on farms and ranches in the central plains and South West of the United States. In South Africa and Namibia thousands of windpumps are still operating. These are mostly used to provide water for human use as well as drinking water for large sheep stocks.
Kenya has also benefited from the African development of windpump technologies. At the end of the 1970s, the UK NGO Intermediate Technology Development Group provided engineering support to the Kenyan company Bobs Harries Engineering Ltd for the development of the Kijito windpumps. Bobs Harries Engineering Ltd is still manufacturing the Kijito windpumps, and more than 300 Kijito windpumps are operating in the whole of East Africa.
The Netherlands is well known for its windmills. Most of these iconic structures situated along the edge of polders are actually windpumps, designed to drain the land. These are particularly important as much of the country lies below sea level.
Eight to ten-bladed windmills were used in the Region of Murcia, Spain to raise water for irrigation purposes. The drive from the windmill's rotor was led down through the tower and back out through the wall to turn a large wheel known as a noria. The noria supported a bucket chain which dangled down into the well. The buckets were traditionally made of wood or clay. These windmills were still in use until the 1950s, and many of the towers are still standing.
In the UK, the term windpump is seldom used and they are better known as Drainage windmills. Many of these were built in The Broads and The Fens, of East Anglia for the draining of land, but most of them have since been replaced by diesel or electric powered pumps. Many of the original windmills still stand in a derelict state (pictured), although some have been restored.
In many parts of the world a Rope pump is being used in conjunction with wind turbines. This easy to construct pump works by pulling a knotted rope through a pipe (usually a simple PVC pipe) Causing the water to be pulled up into the pipe. It has become common in Nicaragua and other places.
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