Changes

It is possible to create a system by which people can pump water into the faucet in their homes from a central pump. This is useful since often water sources such as small springs exist quite far away from homes. Rather than individuals having to carry water from the source to their homes, they simply go to the source to pump the water. Several houses can be connected to the same pump. The system uses an air chamber, pipes, and ferrocement tank to transport water automatically from the pump to storage tanks in the house.

EMAS is the acronym for Escuela Móvil de Agua y Saneamiento (Mobile School for Water and Sanitation), in Bolivia, whose director, Wolfgang Eloy Buchner, developed the EMAS pump in the 1990's.

EMAS is not only the name of the mobile school for water and sanitation, but also a whole technical and social concept of water and sanitation which includes rain water harvesting, solar water heaters, windpower, hydraulic rams, water treatment, small tanks and sinks, a variety of hand and foot pumps, and ferrocement tanks. The aim of the technologies and systems is to achieve the necessary supply of drinkable water, and water for micro irrigation in rural and sub urban areas.