The System Theory of Merry-Go-Rounds

I just finished reading a book about system theory. People, businesses, thermostats: everything is a system. Even if one was to take apart a system component by component and see how they’re all connected, it wouldn’t be possible to exactly predict the future. But it is possible to predict the unexpected, to ask the question: “What happens if…?” And when something noticeably isn’t going according to plan, then the system has to be adjusted. Or put another way: one has to learn from failure. A valuable thought now as I write about the case of the PlayPumps in Africa.

In the 90s, the South African company Roundabout Outdoor (currently offline) developed a concept of a water pump that functions from the energy of children at play. The idea depended on the constant that children play often and gladly. The equation was established: the more money that can be gathered, the more pumps can be purchased, and the more water that will become available for people in need.

This equation became clear to Laura Bush, the wife of George W., who then organised a 60 million US-dollar partnership with PlayPumps. The goal was to install 4,000 carousel pumps by the year 2010. According to PlayPumps, these should then provide clean water for up to ten million people.

To date, 1,000 pumps have been installed. The supposed constant turned out to be a variable, since children don’t always play often or gladly on the merry-go-round. And anyway, in order to reach the target outcomes, they would have to play so much that it would constitute as child-labour. One journalist from The Guardian calculated: in order for 4,000 pumps to provide ten million people with the recommended minimum of 15 litres of water per day, the merry-go-rounds would have to be turned nonstop for 27 hours a day.

In addition to this, the pumps are very expensive. At the pricey drilling amount of 14,000 US-dollars, the concept and design were heavily criticised by WaterAid, one of the largest water-NGOs. Also, the technology is complicated and the replacement parts are unique, which makes onsite repairs difficult.

To read about what went wrong, and whether PlayPumps has remedied the situation, visit the betterplace LAB Water Knowledge Portal, here.

P.S. The book also mentioned that the system goals have a fundamental influence on the system behaviours. When one considers that Roudabout Outdoors is a for-profit company, it tends to beg the question: was the system goal to bring clean water to as many people as possible, or rather to glean high profits?