See more objects with the tag water, tool, bamboo, farming, agriculture, prosperity.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2006

  • Work on this object began.

2016

2025

  • You found it!

Bamboo Treadle Pump

This is a Project. It was designed by Gunnar Barnes of Rangpur/Dinajpur Rural Service and International Development Enterprises (IDE) Nepal and manufactured by Numerous small and medium-sized local workshops. It is dated 2006. Its medium is metal, plastic, bamboo.

The Bamboo Treadle Pump allows poor farmers to access groundwater during the dry season. The treadles and support structure are made of bamboo or other inexpensive, locally available materials. The pump, which consists of two metal cylinders with pistons that are operated by a natural walking motion on two treadles, can be manufactured locally by metalworking shops. Over 1.7 million have been sold in Bangladesh and elsewhere, generating $1.4 billion in net farmer income in Bangladesh alone.

Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 152.4 × 76.2 × 213.4 cm (60 in. × 30 in. × 7 ft.)

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/420778839/ |title=Bamboo Treadle Pump |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=19 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>