Spiral water wheel on a river in GBAO providing water to fields further uphill (MSDSP Khorog)

Spiral water pumps (Tajikistan)

Description

Spiral water pumps can carry water from the river to fields that are up to 30 metres higher than the river without the input of electricity or fuel.

A Spiral tube water pump is a method of pumping water by using an undershot water wheel which has a scoop connected to a spiral tube. As the wheel turns, the scoop will alternatively introduce either water or air into the spiral tube. The pressure from the hydrostatic head generated from the column of water introduced by the scoop, is added to the pressure from previous scoops, and so as the wheel turns it will increase the water pressure with every turn of the spiral. The main characteristic of the spiral water pump is that it can pump water without the input of electricity or fuel. It works with the power of the water flow. Once built, the spiral water pump is able to push water up to 30 metres high (horizontal push) and up to 70 metres away (vertical push). The water push (how far water will be pushed horizontally and vertically) depends on how big the wheel of the Spiral Water Pump is built, and how much tube is put around the wheel.

Purpose of the Technology: The spiral tube water pumps were installed with the aim to provide irrigation water from rivers to higher level crop fields. Land users in GBAO are dependent on irrigation water to grow their crops and without the use of water pumps they can not access the water from rivers that are at a lower level than the fields.

Establishment / maintenance activities and inputs: The type, size and thus material costs of a spiral water pump will depend on 2 parameters: first, the irrigation needs (how far the water needs to go and how much is used per day) and second, the available water flow (the velocity and depth of the water source). There is only an initial investment in material for the water wheel, after that the pump should work without any further costs incurred.

Natural / human environment: The spiral water pumps were installed in 4 different districts of the semi-arid to arid GBAO region where the availability of irrigation water is crucial to crop production. So far, 4 spiral water pumps have been installed for test runs but it is very likely that they will be adopted by other farmers as they observe the benefits created by the ones that are already in place.

Location

Location: Roshtkalah, Ishkashim, Vanj, Rushnan, GBAO, Tajikistan

No. of Technology sites analysed:

Geo-reference of selected sites
  • 71.6351, 37.5225

Spread of the Technology: evenly spread over an area (approx. 100-1,000 km2)

In a permanently protected area?:

Date of implementation: less than 10 years ago (recently)

Type of introduction
Spiral water wheel on a river in GBAO providing water to fields further uphill (MSDSP Khorog)
Spiral water wheel being transported to the site (MSDSP Khorog)

Classification of the Technology

Main purpose
  • improve production
  • reduce, prevent, restore land degradation
  • conserve ecosystem
  • protect a watershed/ downstream areas – in combination with other Technologies
  • preserve/ improve biodiversity
  • reduce risk of disasters
  • adapt to climate change/ extremes and its impacts
  • mitigate climate change and its impacts
  • create beneficial economic impact
  • create beneficial social impact
  • access to irrigation
Land use

  • Cropland
    • Annual cropping: cereals - wheat (spring), root/tuber crops - potatoes, tomatoes, radishes, coleslaw
    • Tree and shrub cropping: stone fruits (peach, apricot, cherry, plum, etc), tree nuts (brazil nuts, pistachio, walnuts, almonds, etc.)
    Number of growing seasons per year: 1
Water supply
  • rainfed
  • mixed rainfed-irrigated
  • full irrigation

Purpose related to land degradation
  • prevent land degradation
  • reduce land degradation
  • restore/ rehabilitate severely degraded land
  • adapt to land degradation
  • not applicable
Degradation addressed
  • soil erosion by water - Wt: loss of topsoil/ surface erosion
  • soil erosion by wind - Et: loss of topsoil
  • chemical soil deterioration - Cn: fertility decline and reduced organic matter content (not caused by erosion)
  • physical soil deterioration - Pk: slaking and crusting, Pi: soil sealing
  • biological degradation - Bc: reduction of vegetation cover, Bq: quantity/ biomass decline
SLM group
  • irrigation management (incl. water supply, drainage)
  • energy efficiency technologies
SLM measures
  • structural measures - S11: Others

Technical drawing

Technical specifications

Establishment and maintenance: activities, inputs and costs

Calculation of inputs and costs
  • Costs are calculated:
  • Currency used for cost calculation: Somoni
  • Exchange rate (to USD): 1 USD = 4.5 Somoni
  • Average wage cost of hired labour per day: 9.00
Most important factors affecting the costs
The material needed to build such a spiral waterpump is the most important factor determining the costs.
Establishment activities
  1. Building a steel frame to fix two empty water tanks that keep the water pump floating (if the water source is a river, not a canal) (Timing/ frequency: None)
  2. Setting up the outer steel frame connected with axel, outrig (Timing/ frequency: None)
  3. Putting in polyethylene tube (Timing/ frequency: None)
  4. Painting wheels white (Timing/ frequency: None)
  5. (Timing/ frequency: None)
  6. (Timing/ frequency: None)
Establishment inputs and costs
Specify input Unit Quantity Costs per Unit (Somoni) Total costs per input (Somoni) % of costs borne by land users
Labour
Putting in polyethylene tube Persons/day 5.0 40.0 200.0
Equipment
Electrode for welding Pieces 80.0 0.375 30.0
Construction material
Tin plates Pieces 7.0 200.0 1400.0
Chain hooks Pieces 8.0 3.0 24.0
Scoop Pieces 1.0 25.0 25.0
Clamps Pieces 60.0 0.7 42.0
Gabion grid Pieces 1.0 135.0 135.0
Steel meter 32.0 8.375 268.0
Axle (pipe), 32 cm meter 1.0 50.0 50.0
Bushing Pieces 2.0 35.0 70.0
Other
Rotary fitting Pieces 1.0 200.0 200.0
Polyethylene tube meter 50.0 13.0 650.0
White paint liter 3.0 15.0 45.0
Total costs for establishment of the Technology 3'139.0
Total costs for establishment of the Technology in USD 697.56
Maintenance activities
  1. maintenance of pump (Timing/ frequency: annual)
Maintenance inputs and costs
Specify input Unit Quantity Costs per Unit (Somoni) Total costs per input (Somoni) % of costs borne by land users
Labour
Maintenance of pump Pump 1.0 45.0 45.0 100.0
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology 45.0
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology in USD 10.0

Natural environment

Average annual rainfall
  • < 250 mm
  • 251-500 mm
  • 501-750 mm
  • 751-1,000 mm
  • 1,001-1,500 mm
  • 1,501-2,000 mm
  • 2,001-3,000 mm
  • 3,001-4,000 mm
  • > 4,000 mm
Agro-climatic zone
  • humid
  • sub-humid
  • semi-arid
  • arid
Specifications on climate
Thermal climate class: temperate
Slope
  • flat (0-2%)
  • gentle (3-5%)
  • moderate (6-10%)
  • rolling (11-15%)
  • hilly (16-30%)
  • steep (31-60%)
  • very steep (>60%)
Landforms
  • plateau/plains
  • ridges
  • mountain slopes
  • hill slopes
  • footslopes
  • valley floors
Altitude
  • 0-100 m a.s.l.
  • 101-500 m a.s.l.
  • 501-1,000 m a.s.l.
  • 1,001-1,500 m a.s.l.
  • 1,501-2,000 m a.s.l.
  • 2,001-2,500 m a.s.l.
  • 2,501-3,000 m a.s.l.
  • 3,001-4,000 m a.s.l.
  • > 4,000 m a.s.l.
Technology is applied in
  • convex situations
  • concave situations
  • not relevant
Soil depth
  • very shallow (0-20 cm)
  • shallow (21-50 cm)
  • moderately deep (51-80 cm)
  • deep (81-120 cm)
  • very deep (> 120 cm)
Soil texture (topsoil)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Soil texture (> 20 cm below surface)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Topsoil organic matter content
  • high (>3%)
  • medium (1-3%)
  • low (<1%)
Groundwater table
  • on surface
  • < 5 m
  • 5-50 m
  • > 50 m
Availability of surface water
  • excess
  • good
  • medium
  • poor/ none
Water quality (untreated)
  • good drinking water
  • poor drinking water (treatment required)
  • for agricultural use only (irrigation)
  • unusable
Water quality refers to:
Is salinity a problem?
  • Ja
  • Nee

Occurrence of flooding
  • Ja
  • Nee
Species diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low
Habitat diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low

Characteristics of land users applying the Technology

Market orientation
  • subsistence (self-supply)
  • mixed (subsistence/ commercial)
  • commercial/ market
Off-farm income
  • less than 10% of all income
  • 10-50% of all income
  • > 50% of all income
Relative level of wealth
  • very poor
  • poor
  • average
  • rich
  • very rich
Level of mechanization
  • manual work
  • animal traction
  • mechanized/ motorized
Sedentary or nomadic
  • Sedentary
  • Semi-nomadic
  • Nomadic
Individuals or groups
  • individual/ household
  • groups/ community
  • cooperative
  • employee (company, government)
Gender
  • women
  • men
Age
  • children
  • youth
  • middle-aged
  • elderly
Area used per household
  • < 0.5 ha
  • 0.5-1 ha
  • 1-2 ha
  • 2-5 ha
  • 5-15 ha
  • 15-50 ha
  • 50-100 ha
  • 100-500 ha
  • 500-1,000 ha
  • 1,000-10,000 ha
  • > 10,000 ha
Scale
  • small-scale
  • medium-scale
  • large-scale
Land ownership
  • state
  • company
  • communal/ village
  • group
  • individual, not titled
  • individual, titled
Land use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Water use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Access to services and infrastructure
health

poor
x
good
education

poor
x
good
technical assistance

poor
x
good
employment (e.g. off-farm)

poor
x
good
markets

poor
x
good
energy

poor
x
good
roads and transport

poor
x
good
drinking water and sanitation

poor
x
good
financial services

poor
x
good

Impacts

Socio-economic impacts
energy generation (e.g. hydro, bio)
decreased
x
increased

water availability for livestock
decreased
x
increased

irrigation water availability
decreased
x
increased

Socio-cultural impacts
Livelihood and human well-being
reduced
x
improved


This has improved the amount of area that can be utilised for cultivation of several varieties of crops.

Ecological impacts
harvesting/ collection of water (runoff, dew, snow, etc)
reduced
x
improved

Off-site impacts

Cost-benefit analysis

Benefits compared with establishment costs
Short-term returns
very negative
x
very positive

Benefits compared with maintenance costs
Short-term returns
very negative
x
very positive

the spiral pumps were only installed in 2011, therefore long-term returns can not be assessed yet

Climate change

Gradual climate change
annual temperature increase

not well at all
x
very well
Climate-related extremes (disasters)
local rainstorm

not well at all
x
very well
local windstorm

not well at all
x
very well
drought

not well at all
x
very well
general (river) flood

not well at all
x
very well
Other climate-related consequences
reduced growing period

not well at all
x
very well

Adoption and adaptation

Percentage of land users in the area who have adopted the Technology
  • single cases/ experimental
  • 1-10%
  • 11-50%
  • > 50%
Of all those who have adopted the Technology, how many have done so without receiving material incentives?
  • 0-10%
  • 11-50%
  • 51-90%
  • 91-100%
Number of households and/ or area covered
4 households
Has the Technology been modified recently to adapt to changing conditions?
  • Ja
  • Nee
To which changing conditions?
  • climatic change/ extremes
  • changing markets
  • labour availability (e.g. due to migration)

Conclusions and lessons learnt

Strengths: land user's view
  • The water pumps are easy to build using the manual provided

    How can they be sustained / enhanced? Provide an user friendly manual, listing the detailed steps of construction including materials and prices
  • The land was not productive and now I have a good yield of fruit

    How can they be sustained / enhanced? Training on fruit tree cultivation.
Strengths: compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
  • Spiral water pumps can provide water up to 30 m higher than the river due to the system of compressed air in the spiral tubes
  • Increase of irrigation water quantity
  • The impact on crop production and thus increased farm income can not yet be assessed as the pumps were only been installed in 2011
  • The pumps provide water without the need for fuel or electricity which is very useful for poor rural communities

    How can they be sustained / enhanced? Spreading this technology among rural areas in GBAO
  • Once established the pumps do not require any further investments
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: land user's viewhow to overcome
  • It may be expensive to replace some of the parts if they wear out in a few years time. Buy replacement parts in advance.
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: compiler’s or other key resource person’s viewhow to overcome
  • Relatively high initial investment A micro-loan might help to cover the initial investment

References

Compiler
  • Julie Zähringer
Editors
Reviewer
  • Alexandra Gavilano
  • David Streiff
  • Joana Eichenberger
Date of documentation: Mei 13, 2011
Last update: Nov. 2, 2021
Resource persons
Full description in the WOCAT database
Linked SLM data
Documentation was faciliated by
Institution Project
Key references
  • Shariff, Jamil et. al. Spiral water pumps. An efficient, cheap and effective solution for up-land irrigation along canals, streams and rivers. CSIT 2011.: jamil.shariff@akdn.org, artur.khudonazarov@yahoo.com,
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareaAlike 4.0 International