MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gardner Denver, Inc. announced today a partnership with Los Angeles-based non-profit Drop in the Bucket to facilitate the drilling of water wells in an effort to provide clean drinking water to schools in Uganda. Along with a financial contribution, Gardner Denver will also be donating one of its top-of-the-line industrial compressors for use in the drilling of the wells.
The partnership, forged following the February 2014 Gardner Denver distributor conference in Cape Town, South Africa, stems from feedback received from Drop in the Bucket’s drilling partners in Africa regarding Gardner Denver’s Turbo Screw technology. The drillers commented that the company's GD (CompAir) model C230TS-17 Turbo Screw is the ideal compressor for water well drilling and an excellent candidate to provide the solution to drill for water in South Sudan and Uganda.
"Given the success of water well drilling studies conducted with this particular device, it seemed a natural fit to assist Drop in the Bucket by providing them with one of our compressors," said Peter Wallace, Chief Executive Officer of Gardner Denver. "We are fortunate to offer this top of the line technology to help Drop in the Bucket maximize efficiency and further aid efforts to bring clean drinking water to school children in Uganda."
"This donation is monumental for us; it provides our drillers with superior equipment and will lead to more access to clean drinking water," said John Travis, co-founder, Drop in the Bucket. "There is no question that this donation will speed up our drilling operations so that the many girls who spend hours every day walking to fetch water can instead spend their time in school."
"This partnership marks another milestone in KKR’s effort to align our U.S. industrial companies with not-for-profit partners who benefit from a company's technology and share in a mission of improving the quality of life for others," said Pete Stavros, Gardner Denver board member and Head of KKR’s Industrials investment team in the Americas. "The partnership between Gardner Denver and Drop in the Bucket is one that promises to bring safe drinking water to many schools in Uganda, a critical step that will positively impact the education of thousands of children in the region."
About Gardner Denver:
Gardner Denver, Inc. is a leading worldwide manufacturer of highly engineered products, including compressors, liquid ring pumps and blowers for various industrial, medical, environmental, transportation and process applications, pumps used in the petroleum and industrial market segments and other fluid transfer equipment, such as loading arms and dry break couplers, serving chemical, petroleum and food industries. Gardner Denver is privately owned by affiliates of leading investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P.
About Drop in the Bucket
Founded in 2006, the Los Angeles based non-profit, Drop in the Bucket, has been drilling water wells and constructing sanitation systems at schools in sub-Saharan Africa for the past eight years. Drop maintains field offices and full-time staff in both Uganda and South Sudan and has to date completed projects in over 200 schools in Africa. Drop in the Bucket believes that access to clean water is a basic human right and that by providing water and sanitation we can get children to attend school so that they can have the tools to be able to help themselves rather than relying on outside aid.
