The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) located in the south east of Bangladesh consists of three districts: Bandarban, Khagrachari and Rangamati. The region is home to 11 ethnic groups and the Bengali population and has a population of 1.6 million. Each ethnic group retains a unique language, culture and tradition. Furthermore, CHT is geographically distinct from most parts of plain land Bangladesh, characterized by very steep, rugged mountainous terrain and dense jungle in areas. Women in the CHT are among the most marginalized and vulnerable groups of people in Bangladeshi society. They live as quadruple minorities under present social and political institutions. People living here are not fortunate to use modern water technologies as we do normally. So, they have to collect water from natural sources particularly from the downhill springs for drinking, household chores and irrigation. To solve the water crisis of the communities at these regions, we have developed a water lifting system using Hydraulic Ram Pump to supply water from downhill source to uphill for drinking and irrigation purposes. It requires no external energy except kinetic energy of flowing water. A hydraulic ram is a cyclic water pump powered by hydropower. It takes in water at one “hydraulic head” (pressure) and flow rate, and outputs water at a higher hydraulic head and lower flow rate. The device uses the water hammer effect to develop pressure that allows a portion of the input water that powers the pump to be lifted to a point higher than where the water originally started.
