Though these students look happy running through the mud, there is a problem hiding in plain sight. During the long rains, tremendous volumes of rain fall. Flooding often occurs at the school and in the village of Tloma. Hundreds, if not thousands of liters of clean, fresh rainwater are lost each year as it runs uncollected off the school’s tin roofs. This is water that could otherwise be used to greatly benefit the school in many ways.
A water catchment system, or rainwater harvesting system, like the one shown in this illustration, will provide the school with clean, fresh water for preparing school lunches, handwashing and other hygiene, and to irrigate the school’s garden. The garden is key to providing nutritious vegetables that supplement the students’ normal lunch of maize and beans.
Water stored in the catchment system can be used to mitigate the effects of the dry season and potentially provide some water during times of drought. An added benefit of a catchment system that collects rainwater from the roof is that it helps to decrease the amount of mud in the area around the building where the catchment system is located, reducing the amount of mud students must walk or run through…and track into the classrooms.
The plan for the water catchment system is to purchase two 5,000-liter tanks for actual storage of rainwater. Using gutters installed on the roofs of two of the school’s larger buildings, the system will be fed by the rainwater runoff from the roofs.
Graphic source: CTCN