Greg Bixler, co-founder and CEO of Indiana-based non-profit Design Outreach, presented at the recently concluded third annual Accord Summit on Excellence in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene held at Calvin College’s Prince Conference Hall in Grand Rapids, Mich. The event gathered together the major players in the advocacy to provide sustainable freshwater supply to villages in predominantly dry and arid regions around the globe.

Design Outreach, one of the top innovators in the freshwater movement, joined other major presenters in summit. Bixler presented the topic, “Reaching Deeper: The Design Outreach’s New Handpump” where he provided the audience with a brief history of Design Outreach, their humanitarian work in Central Africa, and how they came up with their flagship project, the LIFEPUMP.

“When we first came to Africa, we found a large number of pumps were broken and the few remaining ones needed repair. Most of the pumps were already outdated and the parts are no longer in production,” shared Bixler, who is also a mechanical engineer, graduated from Ohio State University. “We realized that the problem was more than retooling a few spare parts: we needed to design an easy-to-use but powerful pump able to reach deep underground water. We often hear: ‘There is something in the air.’ At Design Outreach, we say: ‘There is something underground.’ It is water, and we are going to pump it up.”

Working with social entrepreneur and fellow engineer Abe Wright, they founded Design Outreach and came up with the innovative LIFEPUMP, which is capable of bringing up water from deep underground reservoirs in parched lands such as those in Central Africa. The hand-operated pump helped provide potable water to homes not only for drinking, washing and sanitation, but for irrigating farmlands in the countryside as well. Despite being powered only by two hands, the LIFEPUMP can draw water from as deep as 500 feet. Bixler presented how this sustainable solution has worked in bringing, not only water, but also hope to a growing number of villages worldwide.

However, the work is not yet done, according to Bixler. Design Outreach continues to improve the design of the LIFEPUMP, educate people from the village on the role of sanitation and hygiene in community living, and extend their network of partners to save more lives with freshwater production.

“Our industry partners include subject matter experts as well as leading producers of key components to a larger solution. Some have specialized expertise, such as in progressive cavity pumps for instance,” Bixler said. “We are proud to be a part of the ACCORD Summit since its foundation in 2011. This Michigan event will help us to scale up so we can provide thousands more villages with clean water.”

For more information about Design Outreach and their LIFEPUMP system, visit their website, www.doutreach.org.