Millions of smallholder farmers cannot irrigate during the dry season because water lies beyond the reach of traditional suction pumps. Allied H2O, Inc. develops affordable pump systems that access deeper water sources and help increase crop production.

Originally designed for farmers in developing regions, the technology is now being adapted for ranch and equine markets, providing reliable water movement for livestock, remote pastures and off-grid operations.

As a Benefit Corporation, Allied creates practical water solutions that improve agricultural productivity while delivering social and economic impact.

Access to groundwater deeper than 22 feet boosts smallholder productivity, income, and year-round crop production. Farmers can grow higher-value crops, stabilize cash flow and increase demand for irrigation solutions.

Irrigation also supports livestock, diversifies revenue and raises farm value. Scalable, affordable irrigation drives local economic growth and represents a strong investment opportunity with both financial and social impact.

Intermediate-depth irrigation has long been a critical unmet need for smallholder farmers, with few affordable pumps able to reach water beyond 22 feet. In developing a rugged, efficient pump, AlliedH2O discovered it also meets the needs of US and global livestock operations.

The pump delivers 3,170 gallons per day, is portable, simple to operate and works off-grid—ideal for livestock, remote pastures, and smallholder farms alike. This versatile technology addresses water challenges across multiple markets, creating strong social impact and significant market opportunity.

After research, testing and early prototypes, we shifted our approach to create an irrigation system in its simplest most affordable form for smallholder farmers. In the process we discovered it also perfectly serves US and global livestock operations, creating a versatile solution across multiple markets.

The pump works with a gasoline engine, a solar motor or a hybrid of both, delivering 3,170 gallons of pressurized water in under 4.5 hours. Low-cost below-ground components and shareable aboveground parts support flexible deployment, multiple irrigation methods and scalable adoption for farms and livestock operations alike.

While we can find no direct competitor to the current innovation, the comparison between Allied’s irrigation system and foreign-made submersible solar-powered pumps appears similar in price and specifications, but Allied maintains key competitive advantages that include:

Cultural

• Provides an approachable entry point for smallholder farmers to adopt an irrigation solution featuring component simplicity and more familiar installation techniques that can be cost efficiently upgraded to solar powered at any point in the future

Mechanical

• Provides a solar-installation option that keeps a more affordable DC motor aboveground and in close proximity to the photovoltaic (PV) panels reducing the cost of longer electric wires and the additional line loss of DC current

• Gives the farmer the potential to power the irrigation system by other means available to him (i.e. preexisting DC motor/petrol engine or AC motor powered by intermittent grid electricity)

Affordability

• Places the largest percentage of the cost above ground and mobile which creates an investment that can be more easily maximized by multi-location use, selling excess water, dividing cost among users, or protecting from theft

• Provides entry-level 3hp gas-engine model that meets the low-cost characteristic of the product profile and can be upgraded to solar as the farmer’s income increases

• Each strategic upgrade allows continued utilization of earlier investments to maximize irrigation reliability at the lowest capital and operational costs

Environmental

• Offers inexpensive below ground components that encourage leaving the customized pump cylinder installations inside the well, even when moving the aboveground power source to other locations, helping to protect the aquifer’s water quality

• Offers solar options for environmentally conscious operation

Maintenance

• Provides a solar-powered design that avoids the need for sensitive underwater electrical connections to submerged electric motors

• Designed using the philosophy of right-to-repair with all components individually repairable or replaceable by the smallholder or local technician

• Provides a quick-entry design for ease of repair or cleaning of the pump cylinder without needing special tools or training

Allied is based on the strength that comes with nearly four decades of conducting business in the same community.  Longstanding relationships, both business and personal, have created an extensive team of allies supplying expertise, resources, and mentoring in a wide range of experience and professions.

As a team, Steve and Beverly Stewart began dating in 1977, married in 1981, and have partnered in business to varying degrees continuously since 1983. They have two grown children and four grandsons. Theirs is the classic case of one’s strengths complementing the other’s.

Steve Stewart

co-founder
 

Steve is a creative thinker who fuses engineering and design and is dedicated to finding solutions to issues that face people in regions where there is water or food insecurity. He applies his degree in Industrial Psychology to narrowing designs and manufacturing procedures to their simplest, most appropriate forms. After 25 years of designing and manufacturing products for the American consumer, Steve turned to designing for developing nations. In 2008, he formed Access Development, LLC and began a consultancy for Water4. Working within specific parameters, he designed the Access 1.2 manual water pump and a manual borehole drilling approach. Both designs share Steve’s innovative merging of ancient design with modern technology and are open source. These efforts developed into operational overseas production facilities in Ghana and Ethiopia. His contributions went beyond physical tools to recommending progressive implementation strategies to promote self-sustaining utilities for potable water. In 2018, Access Development was sold to Water4 allowing Steve to refocus on design. Consistent with his character, he chose to begin with the most challenging: an intermediate-depth irrigation pump for smallholder farmers.

Beverly Stewart

co-founder
 

Beverly has a degree in Language Arts but has worked in accounting, and business management for nearly 40 years. Throughout this period she has been responsible for daily operations including: accounts payable and receivable, payroll, regulatory compliance, bookkeeping, banking, insurance and employee benefits, and communication. Her passion for studying cultural history and the evolving trends in international development has been instrumental in much of the Stewarts’ approach to business and design. At Access Development, LLC, she added an education in grant writing and an understanding of setting up business in Africa. She coordinated the set-up of businesses in five African countries, routinely made international banking transfers, and maintained accounts in foreign currencies. She employs her organizational skills and business experience to keep the business operating smoothly and Steve focused on design.

Pre-Seed Round

From July 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019, the Stewarts utilized and invested personal funds to establish Allied H2O with the following traction:

• Focused research on a 7-20 Meter Lift Pump led to the invention of several designs for Allied and laid the groundwork for the current irrigation pump system

• Built test platforms to gather data for optimal motion and operational costs for the initial key components

• Created technical drawings for communication with trade organizations, sub-contractors and attorneys

• Disclosure Abstracts written and technical drawings finalized for two provisional patent filings (July 26, 2019 and November 20, 2019)

• Collaborated with subcontractors for system modifications and the subsequent production of key prototype test models

• Initiated the introduction and assisted in the passage of the Oklahoma Benefit Corporation Act which went into effect November 1, 2019

Smallholder Irrigation System

Allied has developed a new irrigation pump system within exacting guidelines simplifying efficient water-lifting methods to provide affordable access to intermediate-depth water reserves in order to expand key geographic areas under irrigation.

For smallholder farmers, increasing the number of annual crop cycles with irrigation could increase their agricultural production by two to three times, giving them an opportunity to move out of subsistence farming in countries that recognize this as a vital strategy for food security and poverty reduction.

Constraints

The conditions that prevent these smallholders from being able to generate a surplus of agricultural products are specific physical barriers that, when combined, present an insurmountable challenge.

• Size of plot averages only one-half acre which puts an immediate cap on how much agricultural production can be converted to cash from a single rain-fed crop.

• Depth to water below their land is too great for affordable surface (suction) pumps to function, requiring a higher cost pump that can operate from below the waterline.

• Quantity of water needed for a cultivated one-half acre can reach 3,000 gallons per day at the height of the growing cycle making a mechanized pump essential.

• Lack of grid electricity rules out an entire category of submersible pumps thus requiring an effective pump system to have its own autonomous energy source.

Technology

Our introduction to this design began with efforts to address the water challenges faced by smallholder farmers. Extensive research and interviews with farmers and aid organizations led to the development of a Target Product Profile for a 7–20 meter lift pump, guiding the creation of a product to fill this gap.

With this roadmap, we quickly began testing solutions, knowing the technology had to remain simple and intuitive — something smallholders could adopt easily because it solved a real constraint on their growth and provided a tool they could take pride in using.

Breakthrough Design Features

• Separate an aboveground power source from the below-water pump assembly to allow the use of less expensive, more available, and more efficient motors.

• Simple, appropriately-scaled lineshaft to transmit the rotation from an aboveground power source to a below-waterline pump end.

• Centrifugal pump design that allows slower lineshaft RPM’s reducing wear from friction, vibration, and turbid water while maintaining sufficient flow rate and head pressure.

• Pump design allows for gradual, load-free startup extending the life expectancy of impellers, lineshaft, power source, and transmission parts.

• Operates from multiple power source options including small gasoline two and four-stroke engines, electric-grid enabled AC motors, photovoltaic solar panel enabled DC motors, and fuel generator enabled electric AC or DC motors.

• Right-to-repair design philosophy making each component and subassembly maintainable and repairable by the smallholder or local technician.

• Modular design allowing a baseline, “entry-level” system of surface, transmission, and pump assemblies that remain constant as power options and performance specifications are changed or upgraded.

Product Notes

• A Target Product Profile (TPP) defined requirements for a pump capable of lifting water 7–20 meters while keeping material costs under $300. Solar power was considered, but the panels required to move the needed water volume would require about 500 watts with an estimated cost of $500 for the energy system.

• Small, efficient 4-stroke engines offered a practical entry-level alternative, keeping the total material cost of the irrigation system under $300 and supporting a target retail price of about $800 through local suppliers.

• At that price, a smallholder could typically repay the investment within about 18 months while gaining the benefits of year-round food production including higher income, improved nutrition and better access to health care and education.

• Because most components arrive in finished form, production is largely an assembly process, minimizing startup manufacturing costs. Assembly could also be decentralized near areas of strong adoption, reducing freight costs while creating local jobs in assembly, machining, welding, warehousing and equipment repair.

Product Links

Updated product images and video links coming soon…

Company

Allied H2O is an Oklahoma benefit corporation, making evident our mission-first priorities and was named in recognition of the relationships forged over 40 years with individuals and companies that are bringing their expertise alongside ours in the development of solution-based products.