African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1053: Chapter 62: The Pump Station Revolution

Bohemia Province.

Kosha Town, Kapalan City.

Kosha Town is a town in the western part of Bohemia Province, with a relatively dry climate and typical prairie and sandy vegetation. Although precipitation is scarce, agricultural development is quite good.

Over the past twenty years, Kosha Town and surrounding towns have successively built numerous water conservancy facilities in the region, drawing water from the Zambezi River to irrigate the land. Twenty years ago, this area was still a haven for wildlife, with natural landscapes similar to many regions in Africa.

With the transformation of East Africa, numerous channels small and large are neatly planned across Kapalan City, like a finely woven web covering the land. The water of the Zambezi River and its tributaries is directed into the fields through these channels, akin to blood flowing through veins.

At this time, Kosha Town’s government is hosting municipal government personnel responsible for inspections. Mayor Tal guides the Ministry of Water Resources staff to inspect the fifth branch channel.

Tal: ”To successfully draw river water into the fields, we have built seven new pump stations at the fifth branch channel and other water sources, continuously extracting river water via electric pumps. Many of the pump stations previously used steam engines as the main power source; now, according to municipal government documents, we are connecting these pump stations to power lines for energy supply.”

The Ministry of Water Resources staff, looking at the small house standing by the channel, said: ”Mayor Tal, do you mind if we enter and take a look?”

Tal: ”Of course not. When constructing these pump stations, we completed the work under the guidance of professionals, fully meeting construction standards, and conducting regular maintenance checks.”

Following Tal’s instructions, town government staff brought the keys to the pump station and opened the door.

The pump station is built inside a small house made of brick and stone, appearing quite sturdy, standing beside the fifth branch channel. A relatively large metal pipe extends from below the pump station to underneath the fifth branch channel.

Alongside the channel, wooden electric poles have been erected. These poles appear to have been built recently, with labels on them. A line extends from the poles into a small hole in the pump station’s wall.

The door of the pump station is made of wood, not looking very sturdy, but aside from the water pump, there isn’t anything valuable inside, and the large water pump is difficult to move, fixed on a concrete base.

Upon entering the pump station, the investigator from the Ministry of Water Resources observed the internal structure of the pump station and the exterior of the water pump.

It can be seen that this pump station has not been skimped on; the brick walls are smooth and orderly, and the cement on the ground is according to construction standards. If there were any skimping, it would be easy to spot.

The pump’s body is also very clean and tidy, although there is some dust on the top, which is unavoidable, as cleaning cannot be done every three days.

The pump body is painted with conspicuous red paint. From the paint spots on the ground, one can deduce that Kosha Town must have repainted it after the pump installation was completed.

The pump was already painted when it left the factory, but inevitably got bumped during installation, or people in Kosha Town might have worried about the original paint peeling off, so they added another coat.

”Mayor Tal, Kosha Town has done very well. Next, we’d like to test their normal operating condition.”

Tal naturally didn’t object, he went to a circuit breaker embedded in the wall, pushed it up, and the motor quickly made a loud noise, subsequently causing a rumbling sound underneath the fifth branch channel.

As it’s not yet time to release water, the fifth branch channel doesn’t have much water. However, it’s definitely sufficient for testing the pump station’s operational effectiveness.

As the water pump operates, a continuous stream of river water is pumped from the bottom into the pump house, and then flows out through the outlet into the small channel leading to the fields. The clear river water spreads through the channel into the surrounding fields.

Of course, there are small sluices between the fields and the channels, only when these sluices are opened will the water flow into the corresponding field plots.

”The effect is quite good. This new type of pump station is primarily powered by electricity. As long as the power supply is stable, there should be no major problems. The advantage is that it doesn’t require coal or diesel as fuel, leading to relatively little pollution.”

The introduction of agriculture water in East Africa mainly went through the periods of windmills, steam engine pumps, and internal combustion engine pumps, and this inspection by the Ministry of Water Resources is focusing on the latest electric pumps.

Electric pumps have been in East Africa for quite some time, but large-scale replacement of traditional water pumps is not an overnight endeavor. However, this does not mean that electric pumps have no disadvantages.

The main issue is the power supply. East Africa’s power supply is still relatively tight, and if during a drought the power fails, it could be quite troublesome. Of course, the probability of this happening is very small, but it’s something that cannot be ignored.

Therefore, currently, East Africa sees coexistence of windmills, steam engine pumps, internal combustion engine pumps, and electric pumps as methods of agricultural water introduction.

The advantage of windmills is their environmental friendliness, with the primary power coming from wind energy, which incurs almost no cost. However, no one can guarantee the size of the wind or when it will come, making it unstable.

Currently, many windmills in East Africa have become ”relics” due to the promotion of new water introduction technologies, not holding a mainstream position anymore. However, they can play a significant role when necessary, such as when there is a simultaneous shortage of coal, oil, and electricity.

Steam engine pumps greatly improved upon windmills, but their efficiency remained relatively slow, and coal combustion was not very efficient, creating a lot of smoke. Under such circumstances, many East African steam engine pump houses needed chimney installations, and boiler combustion generated a lot of coal ash, requiring timely cleaning, making most East African steam engine pump houses look ”dusty and grimy.”

Internal combustion engine pumps are much better, with high efficiency and relatively less smoke, not generating a lot of coal ash. However, petroleum resources are not as easily obtainable as coal, with costs higher than coal.

Electric pumps have more advantages, the only worry being the power supply. In the 20th century, East Africa’s power supply was relatively tight.

It’s not only remote towns like Kosha Town, but even developed cities like Dar es Salaam City may face power shortages at any time.

Of course, for the East African Government, power supply issues are not unsolvable. After all, new power plants are being constructed every year, and with technological progress, long-distance power transmission losses are becoming smaller and smaller. Hence, the construction of East Africa’s power infrastructure has improved considerably since before the First Five-Year Plan, and as time progresses, the situation of power shortages will become less frequent for East Africa.

After all, even relatively remote places like Kosha Town have surplus electricity to power water pumps, which shows East Africa’s significant progress in promoting electricity.

And the small pump station demonstrates East Africa’s constant innovation and attempts at new technologies in the field of agriculture and water conservancy construction, it can be said to be a pump station technology revolution.

”Mayor Tal, thank you for your help this time. We will truthfully report Kosha Town’s pump station construction situation back to the bureau. I believe the city will be relatively satisfied with this.”

Tal sighed and said: ”That’s good, I just conscientiously completed the tasks assigned by my superiors.”

The investigator from the Ministry of Water Resources said: ”This is already quite rare. We discovered some rather serious problems in other towns; not everyone can honestly complete the tasks assigned from above, so such surprise inspections are indeed necessary.”

He went on to express: ”Now the standards for national agricultural production and industry alike are becoming increasingly stringent, which indeed has significantly increased agricultural production efficiency. From the changes we have seen in the water resources department over the past decade, we can see that standards are rising, implementation is becoming more standardized, and supervision is becoming more stringent in water facilities construction.”