Campground water pumping strives to become more user friendly through R&D from Forest Service’s Missoula Technology and Development Center

Anyone who’s drawn water from a cantilevered pump at a farm or campground knows it takes more than a little strength. Now, there’s an easier way.

Striving to make campgrounds more accessible, the U.S. Forest Service has rebuilt trails, retrofitted restrooms and recently designed a pump that requires less work. It yields water when the rotary crank is turned with just 5 pounds of pressure. Traditional pumps require up to 30 pounds.

A person in a wheelchair can operate the new pump, now being produced commercially by a Nevada company, said Tyler Kuhn, a mechanical engineer at the Forest Service’s Missoula Technology and Development Center http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/techdev/mtdc.htm . He led design of the pump after a search for hand-operated water pumps meeting standards of the Americans With Disabilities Act found none.

The center field tested 12 pumps, made with cylindrical bases and narrow boxes on top, at sites ranging from the Tioga Lake Campground in California’s Inyo National Forest to the Elizabeth Furnace Campground in Virginia’s George Washington National Forest. Simple Pump Co. of Gardnerville, Nev.http://www.simplepump.com/ , began commercial production this year.

By SUSAN GALLAGHER – Associated Press Writer

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2005/06/27/montana/a05062705_04.txt