Makerere scientists invent borehole to curb COVID-19

COVID-29 | INNOVATION |

Researchers at Makerere University have innovated an automatic communal borehole (water pump) to help in curbing the spread of COVID-19.

The innovation, titled MaKNAI, was made by a team of researchers headed by Dr Nicholas Kigundu, the principal investigator, from the department of agricultural bio-systems engineering at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Pressures of COVID-19

Kigundu said world over, the outbreak of COVID-19 has put immense pressure not only on health systems, but also support systems such as access to clean water.

He explained that preliminary understanding of COVID-19 suggested that the virus can be transmitted by coming into contact with an infected surface, yet boreholes and shallow wells account for 67.6% of the water sources in rural areas in Uganda and supply water to an estimated 18,540,000 persons.

"Each borehole supplies about 300 people in the wet seasons, and more than 1,000 during the dry season. The process of drawing water from these sources involves repeated cranking of a metallic handle by hand, which is a potential hotspot for the coronavirus," Kigundu said. "As such, there was a need to amplify the precaution of limiting surface contact by automating the up and down movement of hand-cranked water pumps with electrical power," he added.

Kigundu said alternative solutions of limiting the spread of COVID-19 at the borehole such as washing hands with water and soap or use of chemical sanitisers are difficult to enforce, especially in the low income rural and peri-urban communities.

"This study was aimed at creating a transitional shift from the conventional way of cranking the borehole, which subjects users to high risks of COVID-19 transmission, to less risky semi-automated units powered by solar," Kigundu explained.

The MaKNAI units, he said, comprise a PV panel, battery, solar charge controller, inverter, pulleys, belt, reciprocating arm, and a foot switch to replace use of palms and fingers as the practice is while drawing water. Kigundu said field tests in Wakiso, Mukono, and Buvuma districts were done on a representative sample of three boreholes including shallow, medium, and deep, which were selected with the help of water officers.




Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, the Makerere University vice-chancellor, while officiating at the dissemination of findings and demonstration of the innovation, said the innovation will not only eliminate COVID-19 risks, but also reduce drudgery associated with hand pumps.




Research




Nawangwe said such an innovation is a true testimony of unlocking the potential of Makerere's research, observing the need to protect the intellectual property of the innovators.




He congratulated the Government on the Makerere University Research and Innovations Fund, calling for an increment from the annual sh30b to sh50b.

He said no amount of foreign investment can make a critical change unless self-support is boosted.

Prof. Norble Banadda, the head of the agricultural engineering  department, observed the need by the Government to pick a leaf from countries such as Canada, which have helped their researchers.




He said they have already vaccinated their citizens against COVID-19 due to government support.