Dietmar Stuck has been active in the water well drilling industry since 2000. He worked for S&K Brunnenbohr in Austria where he drilled more than 350 drinking water wells in over 7 years as well as for the Bunbury Drilling Company in Western Australia where he drilled water wells for dewatering and drinking water supply up to a depth of 1,000 metres.

In 2009, he shifted his focus towards sustainable development. He carried out surveys for water projects on behalf of humanitarian aid organizations in remote areas of six African countries. On many occasions he saw that the water pumps in use were unsuitable for the local conditions.

“In the Maasai region I saw people walk over 30 miles a day searching for scarce amounts of water for their families. I saw broken hand pumps because of a lack of maintenance. I saw fuel-driven water pumps not working because of the lack of money to run them. And, existing water wells were useless.

These terrible conditions sparked the idea for a solar-powered water pump that avoids all these disadvantages and that can easily be manufactured locally by companies and entrepreneurs.”