By. Admin
The department of agriculture and bio systems engineering at Makerere University has today launched a automated communal borehole dubbed Maknai with plans to roll out the borehole to most of the rural areas of the country.
The senior lecturer and principal investigator in the solar borehole project, Dr. Nicholas Kiggundu reveals that the high rising numbers of covid19 in the country pushed them to think of the innovation as a way to prevent the likely transmission of the pandemic to communities which get water from a communal source.
At the launch of the borehole today at Makerere University, the vice chancellor makerere university Prof. Banabas Nawangwe challenged university lecturers to always be innovative noting that it’s the only way Uganda’s problems will be solved.
The automated communal water pump which costs USD.1000 uses solar power to yield water from the ground with just a simple stepping on the ground switch and fills a 20 liter jerican in 50 seconds.
Currently, the pump (borehole) has been piloted in Buvuma and Wakiso districts with plans to roll it out to other districts if fund are availed to the innovators.
The project was funded by the government of Uganda through the makerere university research and innovation fund (Mak -RIF)
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