Millions of farmers face an economic barrier which prevents them from irrigating crops during the dry season because water is just beyond the reach of common suction pumps.  Allied H2O, Inc. was formed to advance the development of an innovative water-pump system designed specifically for smallholder farmers in developing countries.  This novel pump system simplifies efficient water-lifting methods to provide affordable access to deeper reserves allowing these farmers the opportunity to more than double their yearly production.

Successful proof-of-concept tests have propelled Allied H2O into the final stages of design. This summer, a complete system was produced and exported to Ethiopia to commence real-world testing. As a Benefit Corporation, Allied H2O is positioned as a for-profit business focusing on humanitarian issues to produce both social and economic impact.

The design efforts behind this pump were initiated by a challenge from one of a growing number of relief organizations seeking the development of such an irrigation system for smallholder farmers. It is universally recognized that moving smallholders out of subsistence farming is vital to feeding the growing population and alleviating poverty in developing countries.

The following sections give a brief summary of the problems faced, what the potential could look like, and the opportunity for our new innovation to be a part of the solution! If you are interested in finding out more, email us at info@alliedh2o.com.

Were smallholder farmers able to affordably tap into groundwater below 22 feet, they too, could experience the gains that those over shallower water sources realize.

Irrigation results in higher crop yields and income, and in year-round employment. It also enables smallholders to adopt more diversified cropping patterns and to switch from low-value subsistence production to a high-value market-oriented production. In addition to assisting the region’s food security, the family benefits from better nutrition, year-round economic stability, and the key opportunities (i.e. health care and education) having extra income brings.

Irrigation also enables raising livestock, another important capital asset. It not only provides food and animal protein – meat, milk and eggs for sale or home consumption – it also yields wool for textiles and manure for fertilizer. Animals can be fed crop by-products and other plant material and are assets that can be sold in emergencies to provide essential cash. These complementary relationships between crop production and livestock are important for smallholders.

In many developing countries, small-scale agriculture is better placed to initiate growth. Its strong and positive ties with local businesses have historically played an important role in economic development. Today, the challenges of producing more food and creating more jobs will require small farms to continuously introduce better and more sustainably productive technology.

Global Good, an organization that committed itself to identifying and solving “some of humanity’s most daunting problems,” compiled a booklet, Smallholder Farm Solutions, which lists 12 critical needs that limit a farmer’s potential. They chose to lead with the need for development of an intermediate-depth irrigation pump.

While affordable pumps exist for surface water and down to 22 feet below ground, for the significant population of smallholders farming over water deeper than that, no viable irrigation solution exists. After extensive research and interviews with smallholder farmers and aid organizations, Global Good produced a five-page comprehensive summary of features (Target Product Profile - 7-20 meter lift pump) that they felt were the critical elements of a new pump design. This report containing the desired pump characteristics for a new invention, first issued in March 2016, was extensive, yet narrow and included the following key features being sought:

• Rugged construction from a bill of material cost below $300 with target price to farmer of below $800

• Capable of producing 3,170 gallons (12m3) of water per day with a sufficiently low operating cost.

• Must be portable for use at multiple well locations or for safe storage

• User-friendly for easy adoption by smallholder livestock and crop farmers

• System must include energy source and cannot be dependent on grid-supplied electricity

After months of intensive research, design, and component testing, an unexpected shift in our foundational approach was made that allowed us an opportunity to immediately gain on an irrigation system that met the key characteristics of Global Good’s Target Product Profile. Our previous efforts of taking on design challenges for humanitarian solutions succeeded by focusing on modernizing historic water lifting and well drilling techniques by combining past designs with modern materials and production methods. But when the initial prototype test results of the irrigation system continued to fall just below the minimal characteristics called for in the product profile, it inspired a different way to come at the problem. Instead of trying to modernize historic designs, we began to reimagine modern designs in their simplest form so that they could be better utilized by smallholder farmers.

This directional shift quickly developed into a unique, affordable, and approachable irrigation pumping system that incorporates the detailed parameters set forth by Global Good.

A prototype of the below-waterline assembly has been constructed and operated by receiving power from three different sources:

• An on-demand, direct-drive four-stroke gasoline engine (lowest initial equipment cost)

• A DC motor affixed to the wellhead powered by solar panels (lowest operational cost and environmentally conscious)

• A generated DC current using the four-stroke engine turning a second DC motor to supply power to the motor affixed to the wellhead (supplement to solar power without altering installation)

Combining an on-demand four-stroke gasoline engine and an efficient solar-powered DC motor into a hybrid system would provide the most efficient irrigation pump system by balancing the needs of critical supply with the desired low-operating cost during routine irrigation.

The low-cost belowground components are easily installed using locally available materials encouraging the installations to remain in ground resulting in time savings when not required to pull for use at additional well locations and for the protection of the aquifer’s water quality.

The energy provided by the aboveground mechanical components and water raising efficiency of the belowground pump assembly can produce the required 3,170 gallons (12 cubic meters) of water in under 4 1/2 hours.  This will allow the aboveground mechanical assembly to service multiple locations in a single day, sell excess water to adjacent farms or its cost be divided among several farmers if culturally appropriate.

The design delivers pressurized water to the surface enabling direct use for sprinklers, raising into ground-level storage for watering-can distribution, or elevated storage tanks for use with drip irrigation.

While we can find no direct competitor to the current innovation, the comparison between Allied H2O’s irrigation system and foreign-made submersible solar-powered pumps appears similar in price and specifications, but Allied H2O maintains key competitive advantages that include:

Cultural

• Provides an approachable entry point for smallholder farmers to adopt an irrigation solution featuring component simplicity and more familiar installation techniques that can be cost efficiently upgraded to solar powered at any point in the future

Mechanical

• Provides a solar-installation option that keeps a more affordable DC motor aboveground and in close proximity to the photovoltaic (PV) panels reducing the cost of longer electric wires and the additional line loss of DC current

• Gives the farmer the potential to power the irrigation system by other means available to him (i.e. preexisting DC motor/petrol engine or AC motor powered by intermittent grid electricity)

Affordability

• Places the largest percentage of the cost above ground and mobile which creates an investment that can be more easily maximized by multi-location use, selling excess water, dividing cost among users, or protecting from theft

• Provides entry-level 3hp gas-engine model that meets the low-cost characteristic of the product profile and can be upgraded to solar as the farmer’s income increases

• Each strategic upgrade allows continued utilization of earlier investments to maximize irrigation reliability at the lowest capital and operational costs

Environmental

• Offers inexpensive belowground components that encourage leaving the customized pump cylinder installations inside the well, even when moving the aboveground power source to other locations, helping to protect the aquifer’s water quality

• Offers solar options for environmentally conscious operation

Maintenance

• Provides a solar-powered design that avoids the need for sensitive underwater electrical connections to submerged electric motors

• Designed using the philosophy of right-to-repair with all components individually repairable or replaceable by the smallholder or local technician

• Provides a quick-entry design for ease of repair or cleaning of the pump cylinder without needing special tools or training

Allied H2O, Inc. is based on the strength that comes with nearly four decades of conducting business in the same community.  Longstanding relationships, both business and personal, have created an extensive team of allies supplying expertise, resources, and mentoring in a wide range of experience and professions.

As a team, Steve and Beverly Stewart began dating in 1977, married in 1981, and have partnered in business to varying degrees continuously since 1983.  They have two grown children and four grandsons.  Theirs is the classic case of one’s strengths complementing the other’s.

Steve Stewart

co-founder
 

Steve is a creative thinker who fuses engineering and design and is dedicated to finding solutions to issues that face people in regions where there is water or food insecurity.  He applies his degree in Industrial Psychology to narrowing designs and manufacturing procedures to their simplest, most appropriate forms.  After 25 years of designing and manufacturing products for the American consumer, Steve turned to designing for developing nations.  In 2008, he formed Access Development, LLC and began a consultancy for Water4.  Working within specific parameters, he designed the Access 1.2 manual water pump and a manual borehole drilling approach.  Both designs share Steve’s innovative merging of ancient design with modern technology and are open source.  These efforts developed into operational overseas production facilities in Ghana and Ethiopia.  His contributions went beyond physical tools to recommending progressive implementation strategies to promote self-sustaining utilities for potable water.  In 2018, Access Development was sold to Water4 allowing Steve to refocus on design.  Consistent with his character, he chose to begin with the most challenging, one he was introduced to by Global Good two years earlier:  an intermediate-depth irrigation pump for smallholder farmers.

Beverly Stewart

co-founder
 

Beverly has a degree in Language Arts but has worked in accounting, and business management for nearly 40 years. Throughout this period she has been responsible for daily operations including: accounts payable and receivable, payroll, regulatory compliance, bookkeeping, banking, insurance and employee benefits, and communication. Her passion for studying cultural history and the evolving trends in international development has been instrumental in much of the Stewarts’ approach to business and design. At Access Development, LLC, she added an education in grant writing and an understanding of setting up business in Africa. She coordinated the set-up of businesses in five African countries, routinely made international banking transfers, and maintained accounts in foreign currencies. She employs her organizational skills and business experience to keep the business operating smoothly and Steve focused on design.

Pre-Seed Round

From July 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019, the Stewarts utilized and invested personal funds to establish Allied H2O with the following traction:

• Focused research on Global Good’s Target Product Profile - 7-20 Meter Lift Pump led to the invention of several designs for Allied H2O and laid the groundwork for the current irrigation pump system

• Built test platforms to gather data for optimal motion and operational costs for the initial key components

• Created technical drawings for communication with trade organizations, sub-contractors, and attorneys

• Disclosure Abstracts written and technical drawings finalized for two provisional patent filings (July 26, 2019 and November 20, 2019)

• Collaborated with subcontractors for system modifications and the subsequent production of key prototype test models

• Initiated the introduction and assisted in the passage of the Oklahoma Benefit Corporation Act which went into effect November 1, 2019

Smallholder Irrigation System

Allied H2O, Inc. has developed a new irrigation pump system within exacting guidelines simplifying efficient water-lifting methods to provide affordable access to intermediate-depth water reserves in order to expand key geographic areas under irrigation.

For smallholder farmers, increasing the number of annual crop cycles with irrigation could increase their agricultural production by two to three times, giving them an opportunity to move out of subsistence farming in countries that recognize this as a vital strategy for food security and poverty reduction.

Constraints

The conditions that prevent these smallholders from being able to generate a surplus of agricultural products are specific physical barriers that, when combined, present an insurmountable challenge.

• Size of plot averages only one-half acre which puts an immediate cap on how much agricultural production can be converted to cash from a single rain-fed crop.

• Depth to water below their land is too great for affordable surface (suction) pumps to function, requiring a higher cost pump that can operate from below the waterline.

• Quantity of water needed for a cultivated one-half acre can reach 3,000 gallons per day at the height of the growing cycle making a mechanized pump essential.

• Lack of grid electricity rules out an entire category of submersible pumps thus requiring an effective pump system to have its own autonomous energy source.

Technology

Our introduction to this needed design was initiated by Global Good, an organization that was committed to identifying and solving humanitarian challenges. Having conducted extensive research and interviews with smallholder farmers and aid organizations, Global Good compiled a list of features into the document, Target Product Profile, 7-20 meter lift pump (TPP) that precisely guided our efforts to create a product capable of filling this market void.

Thanks to this development roadmap, we were able to quickly start testing possible options with the realization that whatever the end result, it needed to be simple and intuitive technology: a product that could be quickly adopted by smallholders because it solved the problem that limited their growth and provided them with a distinctive piece of equipment to take pride in.

Breakthrough Design Features

• Separate an aboveground power source from the below-water pump assembly to allow the use of less expensive, more available, and more efficient motors.

• Simple, appropriately-scaled lineshaft to transmit the rotation from an aboveground power source to a below-waterline pump end.

• Centrifugal pump design that allows slower lineshaft RPM’s reducing wear from friction, vibration, and turbid water while maintaining sufficient flow rate and head pressure.

• Pump design allows for gradual, load-free startup extending the life expectancy of impellers, lineshaft, power source, and transmission parts.

• Operates from multiple power source options including small gasoline two and four-stroke engines, electric-grid enabled AC motors, photovoltaic solar panel enabled DC motors, and fuel generator enabled electric AC or DC motors.

• Right-to-repair design philosophy making each component and subassembly maintainable and repairable by the smallholder or local technician.

• Modular design allowing a baseline, “entry-level” system of surface, transmission, and pump assemblies that remain constant as power options and performance specifications are changed or upgraded.

Product Notes

• Global Good’s Target Product Profile (TPP) outlined specific features for a pump invention with cost constraints for materials of under $300. While the clean energy of solar power was mentioned in a support document, the solar panels needed to lift the given amount of water to the required height, would be 500 watts costing an estimated $500 for just the energy collection means.

• The idea of utilizing small, efficient 4-stroke engines provided an entry-level model with an estimated material cost for the complete irrigation system remaining under the $300 limit and the TPP specified target for the retail cost from a local supplier to the smallholder of $800.

• An $800 irrigation pump investment would generate enough extra income for a smallholder meeting the base criteria, to allow for an 18 month payback while still realizing the key benefits of year-round food production (i.e. increased earnings, better nutrition, health care, and education).

• The majority of materials that are needed for the current design arrive in final form making the production of units primarily an assembly operation, minimizing startup manufacturing costs.

• Decentralized assembly locations could be established near areas of high smallholder adoption to lower costs of importation and freight and provide the benefit of additional job creation (i.e. assembly workers, machinists, welders, warehousing), with cottage industry opportunities for repair shops (i.e. rebuilding motors and engines and pump restoration).

Product Links

Updated product images and video links coming soon…

Company

Allied H20, Inc. is an Oklahoma benefit corporation, making evident our mission-first priorities and was named in recognition of the relationships forged over 40 years with individuals and companies that are bringing their expertise alongside ours in the development of solution-based products.