The EMAS pump is a simple piston pump made of PVC with a marble as kickback valve. This pump is extremely cheap ($ 12) and therefore suitable as a family pump. The EMAS pump was developed by Wolfgang Buchner, member of the EMAS water and sanitation school in Bolivia. Therefore not surprising that circa 20,000 EMAS pumps are in use in Bolivia.

The benefit of a EMAS pump is the high water pressure in the supply pipe. This allows transporting the water (through a pipe or hose) to, let’s say, an elevated storage tank in the ridge of the roof of a house. In this way the water can be transported to the kitchen easily. This often means a considerable luxury.

With the EMAS pump you can transport water up to 2 km (horizontal distance). Thereby it is advisable to use an air chamber (made of a PET bottle), this ensures an even water flow in the tube, which makes pumping easier.