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Summary 2022 spoken in English

https://youtu.be/kK7btfmVp_g?si=tDT9tg1udFLYvsDE

This summary video shows the most meaningful scenes from the most important technical EMAS films and thus gives a good overview of everything that is taught at EMAS. Behind every heading in this summary film there is a detailed film.

The EMAS standard drilling method differs from established well construction in its extremely small diameter and therefore its low cost. The EMAS hand pump is tailored precisely to this. On average, you can reach 27 meters a day by hand with at least 3 men. Drilling depths of more than 100 meters have already been achieved, but most wells are less than 30 meters deep. Too deep wells become expensive and finally the families cannot afford them any more.

Ground-water-flow-increasing hand drilling

Double casing drilling methode.The technique described here is a supplement to the EMAS standard drilling. In the standard drilling, after the well pipe has been installed, at least the filter area is filled with sand. During activation, the drilling mud which sticks around the bore wall is brought into the well and pumped out. This assumes that there is a good sandy aquifer. Sometimes the aquifer (sand) is clayay and delivers no or too little water. In this case the well pipe is then stuck and thus lost.

This method of double casing is used to test in advance how good the aquifer is and, if necessary, to expand the water-bearing layer by leaching. If leaching does not produce the desired result, the half-finished well can be abandoned without any loss of material. This means that the risk of a failed drilling is much lower, and ultimately the successful well is even cheaper because you hardly need to set aside any capital for failed drilling.

Drilling by suction.

This drilling method is suitable for coarse sand and small pebbles as aquifers. With the wash drilling method, you would need an extremely thick drilling mud or strong pumping power to lift the coarse grains. The pump performance is limited by the hand pump.

However, if you turn the system around by conveying the drilling material up through the drill pipe, you achieve such a high flow speed that even small pebbles can be lifted. The suction valve can be either at the top, in the area of ​​the first three meters of drilling, or at the bottom, practically screwed onto the drill bit. If you insert it at the bottom, it is advantageous for coarse sand without pebbles, but has the disadvantage that it easily “sticks together” when a layer of clay is reached. If you use it in the upper area, you can quickly switch back to wash drilling if the soil allows it.

Telescopic hand drilling without mud In very sandy soil, normal EMAS drilling becomes difficult because without the fine clay material, drilling by lifting out the earth is not possible, unless you bring clay soil or bentonite with you, which often represents a logistical challenge. With this technique you can also drill to a certain depth in pure sand without clay. It is interesting to see how the temporary casing pipes are pulled and the PVC pipe couplings are then opened.

Drilling equippment This film shows the components of an EMAS standard equipment in great detail. However, the handle for drilling light stone and the asymmetric drill bit for hard laterite or light stone layers cannot be seen in this film. Therefore please see the film “Innovations”. Also important in this film is how you can make reinforced threaded nipples yourself, as these are often not easily available in hardware stores. The film also shows how to make the piston for a mud pump and a pump handle.

EMAS technical innovations 2018 Instead of making the sealing ring for the pump out of a car tire, you can also make it out of a piece of plastic cord. This is much easier and the ring even seals better. With the Stone Handle, drilling hard laterite or light rock is much less painful because instead of hitting the palm of your hand, your hand slides up and down the handle.

Technical innovations 2015 This video is actually only interesting for well drillers who want to replace the normal sludge pump with a membrane pump. The advantage of a diaphragm pump is the low wear, but it is more complicated to operate.

EMAS drilling with small engine. This simple supporting drilling machine can be dissembled and can be transported in a box. The process of hand drilling is still the same, only the tedious work of the lever or rope pulling, but also at the mud pump is replaced by a motor. The advantage over a common drill that uses only rotation is, that you can still feel exactly the feature of the drilled soil.  With this small rig you can drill a well on your own if necessary.

EMAS underground cisterns for rain water harvesting 

The underground cistern has the advantage that the water always remains at the same cool temperature. This prevents stress cracks. To ensure that the water inside does not become oxygen-deficient and thus acquire a bad smell, it must be ventilated. Normally there is enough air circulation at the lid gap. However, if it is well sealed, air circulation should occur between the overflow pipe and the pipe socket on top of the domelike lid. To increase circulation, a small, approx. 40 cm high, black-painted chimney pipe with side slots made of PVC can be attached to the control socket.  Cistern water should always be filtered for drinking purposes.

In case the cistern becomes leaky, it won't help to re-coat it with normal cement paste because it will flake off. Even special tank paints don't help much. It is best to re-plaster the entire cistern with a new thin layer of mortar and paint it again with cement paste.

In terms of construction, it is important to ensure that digging is only in a natural, not backfilled, dry and very stable soil. It makes no sense to dig in rainy season because water often seeps out of the wall, making plastering impossible.

EMAS pumps, lateral to the well. This pump is installed laterally at an open shaft well. If it would have been installed on top, as it is usually the case, you would have to make a heavy concrete slab to anchor the pump onto. If the pump is defective, it will be difficult to access the well with buckets through the small manhole. However, if the pump is located on the side, the well can be provided with a light wooden cover which, if necessary can be removed easily and frees up the entire shaft for the buckets. The flexibility of the EMAS pump allows an installation slightly curved.

Wells - improving an existing shallow hand dug well. This film shows how to make a hygienic EMAS well in weak and shallow aquifers. The yield of water depends on the number of installed perforated tanks. The tanks do not need connecting pipes in the underground because the stone layer connects them to each other. It is important to ensure that the stones are free of moss and other organic material. During refilling no fine earth should fall into the stone layer. Therefore on the stone layer can be filled first a medium gravel layer or you place on the stone layer old textile plastic bags. Afterwards the shaft can be refilled .

Improvement of an ugly water hole. Here we show how you can turn a dirty waterh ole or spring swamp into a clean water supply. As in the previous film, care should be taken to ensure that fine soil does not fall into the stone layer around the tanks. Instead of the hand pump for pumping at distance, a pedal rocker is urgently recommended, as this is much easier and saves a lot of energy.

Preventing hand dug wells from collapse.This video is similar to “improving an existing… well”. However, this is about a well that is in danger of collapsing and we want to save it.

Making a small ferro cement tank. This small universal ferrocement tank is primarily used as a household storage tank. Be it in the kitchen, for the shower or as a small grain silo. In perforated form it is used as an underground collection tank for improved hand dug wells. Sometimes also as tight chambers for septic tanks when dirty water is not allowed to seep directly into the subsoil.

for a 100 Liter tank you need 1/2 (25 kg) ciment bag Wall thickness 2cm 

Ferro cement tank classic. The classic ferro cement tank consists of a plastered cage  made of thin structural steel. Where you can buy a welded grid, the construction becomes particularly interesting, otherwise you have to weave it. If the ground is not compacted very well, such a tank often develops cracks at the bottom. The dome-like shape shown here makes the floor self-supporting and saves the need for a foundation. If you don't have prefabricated scarf pieces for the upper taper, this area is quite labor-intensive. Like any tank on the surface, after a certain time it develops stress cracks and becomes leaky. My best experience with this was to let the tank dry completely and then use a fine brush to apply regular oil paint only into the cracks. Repeat until the crack no longer sucks and is sealed. Wall thickness 5-6 cm

For a 5000 Liter tank you need 400 - 450 Kg. ciment 

2500 liter ferro cement tank. Personally, I prefer this tank. The key advantage of this tank is that you can simply make the dome-like lid on the ground using a sand mold. This saves a lot of work. However, due to the weight of the dome, the diameter is limited to approx. 1.3 m. Plywood, woven mats, corrugated iron or steel sheets can be used as the inner form. The inner mold must be removed after 24 hours, otherwise it can no longer be removed from the cement. Wall thickness 4-5 cm

for this 2500 Liter tank you need 200 Kg. ciment (4 bags).

EMAS water filtering system. This simple filter has great filtering performance and costs practically nothing. It has the best effect if it is kept constantly wet. Using ground charcoal, e.g. from burnt grass, you can remove unpleasant odors from the water and by flocculating and sedimenting turbide water before filtering you can extend the life of the filter. The filter roll made of polyester textile can either be cleaned like a sponge or simply “backwashed” by blowing into it.

It is often the case that you have to carry out WASH work in a remote location and the necessary PVC fitting is missing. If there is no great pressure in the pipe, you can use selfmade fittings. Here you can see how you can make angles, bends and T-pieces yourself. This can save you a lot of time, material costs and also travel costs.

Hydraulic ram (water hammer) This is an interesting pump which only works with the power of the water from the main pipe. So it does not require any external energy such as electricity or a motor. A height difference of 1 meter is often enough to pump water up to 10 meters. A lot of water is lost when pumping, less than 1 tenth is pumped, the rest of the water provides the energy for pumping and is lost. So for drinking water you need a productive spring. Normally you pump the water from a canal or stream for irrigation. In this case it would not be drinking water. To be honest, I have only found a very few sites where the water hammer makes sense.

Hand airlift pump. This airlift pump shows that you can also pump water from an EMAS well by hand in an energy-efficient manner. You can make the air pump for wells up to 15 m yourself. The bigger the well diameter the more air you need, therefore an EMAS well is ideal for air pumping. Another important thing is a good relation between the well depth, the water depth when pumping (dynamic groundwater level) and the delivery head. Good means about 2/3 water and 1/3 air in the well. (well 30m deep, dyn. Level 10m.)  Add to that 10m delivery head in the well the head to the tank (5m) then you have 50% water in the well and 50% total delivery head. The deeper the well and the higher the dynamic water level, the more efficient is the air lift pumping. For deep wells it is best to use a small compressor. Further information about this application can be found in the textbook under “Literature” and scenes can be seen in the video “emas drilling with small engine”.

Iron elimination in family wells. Iron-containing water is often found, be it from a spring or in a drilled well. Iron is not harmful to health, but it is annoying because it stains white laundry, foods such as potatoes, cassava, etc. turn a slightly brown color when cooked and when you drink the water it tastes inky. The good thing is that iron can be easily removed at a household level. This film shows a method of how the iron can be removed. Actually, there are many ways to do this. The easiest way is to let the water stand in an open container (bucket, plastic barrel) for a certain time. The iron first flocculates, the water becomes cloudy and loses its typical taste. After a further time, the cloudiness settles at the bottom and you have crystal clear, iron-free water. The time that passes depends on the properties of the water. For one barrel it usually takes 2 days.

EMAS components for irrigation. This film shows many applications for irrigation you can use if you know about its technical components. Instead of wind power, solar energy with centrifugal pumps is now used to produce water.

Solar pumping with normal household motors. This video shows how you can use universal motors 220 or 110 Volt  (mixer, drilling machine, angle grinder, etc.) as DC motors. It shows how the power consumption relates to the speed.  An angle grinder with solar power drives an EMAS hand pump, a mixer motor drives an air pump for the air lifting pump and a DC motor drives a radial pump for irrigation. It should be noted that both, net power and solar power can be used. Finally, we'll show you how to make a drive belt out of a cord.

EMAS solar water heater using old beer bottles and PVC pipes. This solar water heater is a really good thing. It is durable and, above all, corrosion-resistant when IPS or other polypropylene fittings are used. Here some innovations: For a better seal between the bottle and the pipe coupling, it is recommended to lubricate the corresponding part with plenty silicone shortly before inserting the bottle into the pipe coupling. Then press the hot coupling  onto the bottle like in the video.  After wrapping the pipe sleeve with the acrylic thread, the thread layer should be protected from UV radiation with a strip of aluminum foil. Later paint it. This makes that the acrylic thread does not become brittle even after years.

Warm water storage tank for the EMAS solar heater.If you have already built the solar collector shown previously and want to have warm water early in the morning, then the warm water tank shown here is the ideal addition. There's actually nothing complicated about it, you just have to pay attention to high-quality material for the small barrel. If possible, do not use recycled material as it can become brittle over time.

Solar room heating.  This solar room heating combined with warm domestic water is technically quite sophisticated. The heating water is oxygen-free and therefore does not attack the steel panels and buffer tank. The domestic warm water tank is protected by a large sacrificial anode. In order to build such a system, you should be able to weld and also have some mechanical skills.  Especially in the cool, tropical highland where there is a long and sunny dry season, such a system is highly efficient.

Self-made warm water sun collector with sacrificial anodes.  If you can weld and want to build a hot water collector, here are instructions. The advantage of this collector is that it can withstand pressure of up to one bar and is durable.

Solar  water heating - hot shower using bottles.  I believe this is the easiest way to get a warm shower. If you can't get big PET bottles, you can also use small canisters, glass bottles or other flat containers.  Do not forget to paint them black. It's enough to wrap them in a clear plastic film, but this will become brittle soon.

Odourless EMAS latrine.  Here we show how to build an odorless, hygienic and attractive latrine. If you have a well in your yard it is important that the groundwater cannot be contaminated by the toilet. These latrines have relatively small fecal holes. They can either be emptied or the entire cubicle  can be moved on a new hole. It is also shown how you can make your own comfortable latrine seat from an earth form. If you can only find very thin sheets of corrugated iron for the construction of the cubicle, you can reinforce the outside of the wall with additional timber beams. The same applies if you use corrugated plastic sheets.  The associated shower cubicle is built in the same way.

Wind pump.  Today, the wind pump only makes sense in a cloudy and windy place, because centrifugal pumps with solar power are demanding less maintenance and are cheaper. The wind turbine is just the drive; you can connect a standard, quantity or high-pressure pump. The check valve allows air to be sucked in when the wind turbine is stationary. When it runs again, the air is pumped into the air chamber. If this would not be the case, the water slowly would consume the air in the chamber and the pumping resistance would increase significantly.

EMAS pump using a pedal rocker.   A rocker or pedal makes pumping work much easier because you have much more strength in your legs than in your arms. In addition, the balance is only shifted a little, the knees hardly bend. That's why the rocker is particularly suitable for irrigation. A pole next to the pump helps maintain balance. We have tried many models here, the best is the simple rocker connected to the EMAS well or directly from a waterhole. To make it easier for women in developing countries to accept the seesaw, it is advisable to build a privacy screen around the well.

Small waste water treatment plant. When you use a flush toilet, a lot of waste water is produced, which is usually disposed of in a pit. However, if you have a well nearby, it is quite possible that the water in it will become contaminated. To prevent this, we show here how you can have safe wastewater disposal at household level. The closed constructed wetland means that hardly any odors and mosquitoes can escape. Biological cleaning through the soil is best in vertical infiltration. With horizontal clarification, it is the roots that clean the water.  After clarification, the wastewater can be safely allowed to seep away near the surface. This treatment plant is designed for about 20 persons.

Making a latrine seat using earth form.  Although the making of the latrine seat was already shown in the video about latrines, I made this part as a separate film because many people are just interested in that. When you place the plastic seat on the fresh cement, mark it and then cut out the cement. However, for hygienic reasons, it is extremely important that this section is enlarged by about 1.5 cm. The cement must therefore be behind the plastic seat, especially in the front part. 

Well gallery hand drilled 5 liters per second.   In certain regions of the Amazon basin you find hardly any groundwater in the rocky soil, apart from small river floodplains.  This town on the Putumayo River is supplied with contaminated river water. However, this has to be treated in a complex and expensive manner. These costs can be greatly reduced if you use groundwater from floodplains. As the floodplains are difficult to access only the EMAS hand drilling is possible. Here is a well gallery with 5 EMAS wells that deliver 5 liters per second with a suction pump (finally an electric pump). Eight galleries were built. Even in floods, the system works fine because the pumps are on floating pontoons and the wells are completely sealed. According to an analysis, the water is good drinking water.

Kitchen - making a kitchen sink   Dieses Video shows how to make a kitchen sink out of cement mortar, iron or wire rings and using an earth form.

The interrelation between well and pump.  I made this film for colleagues in Afghan waterworks as part of a GIZ project. The aim here is to show the relationship between groundwater lowering and the productivity of a well using a model. If the groundwater level drops, the productivity of the well also decreases and the pump should therefore be resized.

Understanding radial pumps.  I made this film for colleagues in Afghan waterworks as part of a GIZ project.

This film shows the opposite current consumption at maximum pressure between a radial pump and a peripheral pump. Then the calculation of the operating points of a radial pump and a practical example.