What's Next?
We're just getting started.
We aspire to the be go-to provider of innovative solutions for global partners combating poverty. The demand for humanitarian engineering solutions is growing, and we have quite a few things up our sleeve. One thing is for certain, the LifePump is just the beginning.
Available Technologies
In many under-resourced communities, water is collected from rain or springs and distributed to communities via water tap stands. A weak link in these systems is often the valve used to dispense water. When these valves leak or break, water is wasted, tanks are emptied, and fresh water can become contaminated. According to the World Bank, 45 million cubic meters of water are lost daily due to water leakage in these systems. That's enough water to meet the basic water needs of 640 million people.
LifeTap is a reliable self-closing valve that is robust enough to handle the wear and tear of a community tap stand while preventing devastating water loss.
As LifePump becomes more widely used across the world, capturing critical pump data is more important than ever.
Design Outreach’s satellite-based remote monitor LifePumpLink™ was designed to vastly improve the efficiency and impact of water supply programs by providing real-time data to stakeholders around the world.
- Actionable alerts. LifePumpLink tracks pump uptime and provides meaningful, actionable alerts to program managers when pump usage declines so appropriate action can be taken. Additionally, the alerts history and dashboard tell a story of each LifePump and help inform decision makers on the effectiveness of actions taken.
- Improved maintenance plans. By capturing comprehensive pump usage data, LifePumpLink provides the understanding of pump usage patterns that is needed to plan and implement effective preventive maintenance programs.
- Significant time and money savings. LifePumpLink’s ability to provide critical pump data in real time allows for improved resource management and eliminates costly trips to remote areas to inspect pumps.
Innovations in Development
As many LifePump communities grow in population and people continue to flock to LifePump for safe water, a higher flow rate is often needed to meet increasing demand. autoLifePump allows a solar-powered electric motor to be added to LifePump to address these needs.
For communities that have a high demand for water but do not have the resources to support a submersible or solar pumping system and all their associated costs and maintenance, autoLifePump provides an electric pumping option at a fraction of the cost.
A pump that operates with zero downtime is critical for sustainable development; autoLifePump provides near 100% uptime. If a community faces electrical issues, power outages, or cloud cover, autoLifePump’s manual backup is there to provide safe water 24/7.
As communities grow, they can upgrade their LifePump to autoLifePump easily and affordably, guaranteeing sustainable water access they need to thrive.
LifeLatrine is a sustainable, affordable solution to support improved sanitation and hygiene in developing countries.
Recognizing the need for sustainable, affordable latrines as a vital step in alleviating poverty, Design Outreach has assembled a team of experts in engineering, design, sanitation, soil mechanics, and manufacturing to determine how to create a pit liner that is affordable for a single family, will keep pit walls from collapsing, and can be reused.
In 2020, the team completed critical initial research into the challenge of constructing pit latrines, studied and evaluated available solutions, and began developing new concepts now being tested.