SA GOVERNMENT REPORT: "The Hippo water roller is indeed an appropriate innovative technology for most rural areas in South Africa."

The South African Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) has been given the mandate by the President of South Africa to develop and implement a Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) throughout the country, focused on enabling rural people to take control of their destiny, with the support from government, and thereby dealing effectively with rural poverty through the optimal use and management of natural resources.

The DRDLR recently released an October 2012 report of its Technology Research and Development (TRD) Chief Directorate which identified Hippo water rollers as an appropriate technology that can be rolled out in some of the CRDP sites facing the challenge of water supply.

Download report: http://hipporoller.org/images/files/HippoWaterRollers-EasternCape-ImpactAssessmentReport-Oct2012.pdf

The report documents findings which are a summary of the observations done by the project team and the issues that were raised by the community members. An insight into people's concerns, motivations and aspirations was gained using qualitative research.

Questions were asked in order to have an understanding on the impact of Hippo rollers on the focus groups particularly regarding the way it enables families and quite simply, makes life easier and also how much of a key solution it has been predominantly when taking into account the terrain of these rural dwellings, distance travelled to water sources, rain patterns, capacity of water needed on a daily basis and adversely the uses of water and other alternative methods that were used prior the introduction of the technology.

"The benefits of this South African award winning innovation are immediate and so is its potential to impact positively on the long-term negative effects of not having access to clean water."