Windpumps

A windpump is a type of windmill used for pumping water from a well or draining land.
On US farms, particularly in the Midwest, windpumps of the type pictured were used to pump water from farm wells for cattle. Today this is done primarily by electric pumps, and only a few windpumps survive as unused relics of a previous technology.
Windpumps similar in construction to the ones from the US Midwest are still being used extensively in Southern Africa. In South Africa and Namibia thousands of windpumps are still operating. These are mostly used to provide water for human use as well as drinking water for large sheep stocks. At least 21 different types of windpumps are still operational in South Africa.[citation needed] Unfortunately few manufacturers still exist, although Southern Cross, Climax (Stewarts and Lloyds) and Poldaw windpumps are still distributed.[citation needed]
Kenya has also benefited from the Africa development of windpump technologies. At the end of the 70s, the UK NGO Intermediate Technology Development Group provided engineering support to the Kenyan company Bobs Harries Engineering Ltd for the development of the Kijito windpumps. Nowadays Bobs Harries Engineering Ltd is still manufacturing the Kijito windpumps and more than 300 Kijito windpumps are operating in the whole of East Africa.
Brograve Mill, UK. An example of the derelict state of many Broadland WindpumpsThe Netherlands is well known for its windmills. Most of these iconic structures situated along the edge of polders are actually windpumps, designed to drain the land. These are particularly important as much of the country lies below sea level.
Many windpumps were built in The Broads, of East Anglia in the United Kingdom for the draining of land. They have since been mostly replaced by electric power, many of these windpumps still remain, mainly in a derelict state, however some have been restored.