A confluence of new technology and the right to water: Experience and potential from South Africa's constitution and commons

South Africa's groundbreaking constitution explicitly confers a right of access to sufficient water (section 27). But the country is officially 'water-stressed' and around 10 % of the population still has no access to on-site or off-site piped or tap water. It is evident that a disconnect exists between this right and the reality for many; however the reasons for the continuation of such discrepancies are not always clear. While barriers to sufficient water are myriad, one significant factor contributing to insufficient and unpredictable access to water is the high percentage of broken water pumps. Previous studies have reported that between 20 and 50 % of all hand operated water pumps installed on the African continent are broken, or out of use. Monitoring and maintenance of pumps, which in South Africa is the responsibility of local municipalities is often ineffective, in part due to the distances between municipal centres and rural communities and the consequent costs of site visits, as well as breakdowns within the local bureaucratic system. The emergence of new telemetry tools that can remotely monitor water applications constitutes a novel and cost-efficient alternative to undertaking regular sites visits. Sustainable, appropriate, low-cost telemetry systems are emerging that could be used to monitor the operational performance of water pumps, or a wide range of other field parameters, and to communicate this information swiftly and cheaply to water service providers, using SMS messages. Data on the performance of water pumps could also be made available to the public online. This is an example of how ICT can be used for water resources management and environmental regulation, as well as in the governance of socio-economic rights: helping to optimize water allocation by improving communication and strengthening accountability. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Performance evaluation of solar water pumps

Water pumping with solar power is not very popular in Sri Lanka mainly due to their poor performance despite having most favourable climatic conditions .for the same. The controlled tests carried out with a typical solar water pumping system indicated that photo voltaic modules consistently attained the performance levels specified by the manufacturers, while the pump performed at noticeably lower levels. Further, the high initial cost of solar water pumping systems when compared to alternative sources is a major obstacle in the widespread use of this renewable energy technology

L'argent de la Diaspora et Financement des Infrastructures Sociales Urbaines et Périurbaines de Base en Afrique

The author analyses how diaspora money help to finance urban and peri urban basic social infrastructures, such as water pumps, school materials, health care centres, and housing, in Cameroon

Large Cooling Water Pump Upgrade for Increased Capacity And Reduced Impeller Cavitation

Case StudiesThis case study discusses the hydraulic upgrade of two sets of four (25 percent) large vertical cooling water pumps. To increase the electrical output of subject power station, the cooling water pumps of block 1 and 2 had to be upgraded in capacity minimally thirteen percent, thereby also attempting to minimize the occurrence of impeller cavitation. The upgrade consisted of replacing the existing impeller and diffuser plus casing, and installing new electric motors. To corroborate anticipated hydraulic performance the replacement impeller and diffuser were model tested on a 1:4 scale. The model test further served to determine final sizing dimension of the upgrade

Underground mineral extraction

A method was developed for extracting underground minerals such as coal, which avoids the need for sending personnel underground and which enables the mining of steeply pitched seams of the mineral. The method includes the use of a narrow vehicle which moves underground along the mineral seam and which is connected by pipes or hoses to water pumps at the surface of the Earth. The vehicle hydraulically drills pilot holes during its entrances into the seam, and then directs sideward jets at the seam during its withdrawal from each pilot hole to comminute the mineral surrounding the pilot hole and combine it with water into a slurry, so that the slurried mineral can flow to a location where a pump raises the slurry to the surface

Measurement of interstage fluid-annulus dynamical properties

The work described in this paper is part of an Electric Power Research Institute sponsored effort to improve rotor vibrational performance on power plant feed water pumps. A major objective of this effort is to reduce vibration levels by devising inter-stage sealing configurations with optimized damping capacity, realizing that the typical multi-stage centrifugal pump has several ore inter-stage fluid annuli than it has journal bearings. Also, the fluid annuli are distributed between the journal bearings where vibration levels are highest and can therefore be 'exercised' more as dampers than can the bearings. Described in this paper is a test apparatus which has been built to experimentally determine fluid-annulus dynamical coefficients for various configurations of inter-stage sealing geometry

Technical Diagnostic of Water Pumps in Heavy Industry

Bakalářská práce se zabývá technickou diagnostikou vodních čerpadel v těžkém průmyslu se zaměřením na vibrodiagnostiku. Specifické zaměření bylo věnováno především vertikálním a horizontálním čerpadlům typu Warman, které plní svojí funkci jako kalová čerpadla. Teoretická část je věnována analýze dané problematiky a jednotlivým druhům bezdemontážních diagnostických technik. Hlavním cílem práce je vyhodnocení naměřených dat, které slouží k určení technického stavu zařízení.The bachelor thesis deals with technical diagnostics of water pumps in heavy industry with focus on vibrodiagnostics. Particular attention was paid to vertical and horizontal pumps that function as sludge pumps. The theoretical work is devoted to the analysis of the issue and individual types of non-dismantling diagnostic techniques. The main goal of the thesis is to evaluate the measured data, which are used to determine the technical condition of the equipment.340 - Katedra výrobních strojů a konstruovánívýborn

Optimizing operations of large-scale water supply networks: a case study

In this paper we propose a mathematical programming model for a large drinking water supply network and discuss some possible extensions. The proposed optimization model is of a real water distribution network, the largest water supply network in Flanders. The problem is nonlinear, nonconvex and involves some binary variables, making it belong to the class of NP-hard problems. We discuss a way to convexify the nonconvex term and show some results on two case instances of the actual network

Optimizing operations of large water supply networks: a case study

In this paper we propose a mathematical programming model for a large drinking water supply network and discuss some possible extensions. The proposed optimization model is of a real water distribution network, the largest water supply network in Flanders. The problem is nonlinear, nonconvex and involves some binary variables, making it belong to the class of NP-hard problems. We discuss a way to convexify the nonconvex term and show some results on two case instances of the actual network

System-level key performance indicators for building performance evaluation

Quantifying building energy performance through the development and use of key performance indicators (KPIs) is an essential step in achieving energy saving goals in both new and existing buildings. Current methods used to evaluate improvements, however, are not well represented at the system-level (e.g., lighting, plug-loads, HVAC, service water heating). Instead, they are typically only either measured at the whole building level (e.g., energy use intensity) or at the equipment level (e.g., chiller efficiency coefficient of performance (COP)) with limited insights for benchmarking and diagnosing deviations in performance of aggregated equipment that delivers a specific service to a building (e.g., space heating, lighting). The increasing installation of sensors and meters in buildings makes the evaluation of building performance at the system level more feasible through improved data collection. Leveraging this opportunity, this study introduces a set of system-level KPIs, which cover four major end-use systems in buildings: lighting, MELs (Miscellaneous Electric Loads, aka plug loads), HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning), and SWH (service water heating), and their eleven subsystems. The system KPIs are formulated in a new context to represent various types of performance, including energy use, peak demand, load shape, occupant thermal comfort and visual comfort, ventilation, and water use. This paper also presents a database of system KPIs using the EnergyPlus simulation results of 16 USDOE prototype commercial building models across four vintages and five climate zones. These system KPIs, although originally developed for office buildings, can be applied to other building types with some adjustment or extension. Potential applications of system KPIs for system performance benchmarking and diagnostics, code compliance, and measurement and verification are discussed