A story on the Johnson & Johnson blog details how an engineer at DePuy Synthes, Abe Wright, led the way to help develop the LifePump that is helping bring clean water to Africa. He also co-founded Design Outreach, a cooperating organization in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. (Johnson & Johnson is the parent company of DePuy Synthes.) A portion of the story appears below. Click here to read the complete article.
LifePump: How DePuy Synthes is Bringing Fresh, Clean Water to Africa
How many times today did you reach for a faucet and turn it on to get water for drinking, cleaning or cooking? Most of us do it without a second thought because we’re accustomed to having it always there on the other side of the tap. But for one in nine individuals worldwide, that’s not the case. More than 780 million people lack access to clean, safe water according to Water.org. And that daily struggle to obtain one of life’s most basic needs motivated our DePuy Synthes colleagues to act. Thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers who put their problem-solving heads together to help others in need, there are now innovative deep-well water pumps humming in several African villages, providing clean, safe, convenient water to the families who live there. And more are on the way!
Seeds of Innovation
Since 2010, Warsaw-based DePuy Synthes Staff Engineer Abe Wright has spearheaded a humanitarian effort that has brought clean water to 12 African villages to date. During mission trips to the Central African Republic (CAR), Abe saw first-hand the dire circumstances caused by lack of potable water. He explained, “In many regions in Africa, water is located very deep underground. Traditional pumps either don’t reach deep enough or break quickly because they aren’t designed for such depths.”
Struck by watching people carry buckets for miles to access clean water when he could simply walk to the sink, Abe rallied engineer contacts from around the United States including colleagues from DePuy Synthes. Their goal: develop a better pump that would surpass the limitations of hand pumps, which typically stop working past 100-150 feet. The team formed a collaborative “think tank,” convening for hundreds of hours around brown bag lunches to design a progressive cavity pump (PCP) with the potential to source water from depths up to 500 feet.
Click here to read the complete article.