The SWS Rower pump is a manually operated, suction piston pump used for drawing water from shallow wells, river bed filters and open water. It is ideal for irrigation, village water supply and livestock watering
SWS Filtration’s involvement with Rower Pumps started in 1982 when we introduced them to an agricultural development project in North Nigeria. The Rower pump is most unusual in appearance. The cylinder is not upright like most pumps, but is placed into the ground at an angle of about 30o to the horizontal so it looks more like a rocket launcher than a pump!
The operator holds a wide T-handle and pulls and pushes directly on the piston rod as the water pours out of the top of the cylinder so the pumping action is like rowing a boat. Although when one first sees a Rower Pump it looks rather weird, all of the main pump components are still present including a traditional foot valve, piston valve and pump cylinder.
Rower Pumps are very easy to make, operate and maintain. They are suction pumps so are limited to areas where the water is within 6 metres or 20 ft of the surface. Rower Pumps are ideal for lifting water from low level springs, shallow wells, or river beds. The Rower Pump does not filter the water itself, but it can be connected to a sub-sand filter. By drawing water directly from a protected low level spring, the water will be much cleaner than if the spring is open for people and animals to contaminate.
SWS can either sell complete pumps or help you set up assembly workshops if ther is sufficient demand. SWS Filtration also has a charity account which allows us to give some pumps and water filtration equipment free of charge to bona fide development projects. Funding for this account is limited but we would be very pleased to help you if we can. Alternatively, if you would like to support this work, your donations would be gratefully appreciated by those we are seeking to help. (SWS Water Charity Account)
Over the years a lot has been written about Rower Pumps. We have included and updated a number of these articles for you to browse through, but if you have any specific questions please email us and tell us something about your project. We are also involved with a lift pump (NZ Pump) but if neither of these is appropriate we will gladly put you in touch with other organisations involved with water development and hand pumps.
For more information on SWS Rower Pumps click on one of the following options....
- SWS Rower Pumps - Your Questions Answered
- SWS Rower Pumps - What the users think
- SWS Pompes "Rower" (Francais)
- Rower Pump Testing by the Consumer Association
- Bangladeshi Rower Travels To Africa Article published in World Water
- The Rower Pump Article first published in Developing World Water in 1988
- SWS Water Charity Account
- Rower Pump with delivery option
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