"It is a labour of love." RAINWATER HARVESTING

Human beings are mostly water. As much as 80%! Like the earth itself. Water is such a strong component of life, it must be alive.

One collects rainwater for health reasons. Water that comes from taps is not necessarily good for drinking. According to the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto (article Odyssey August 2006), the crystals in tap water (as well as bottled water) can become sick. You have to heal them before you drink the water.

Lianne Cox suggested you full your blue glass bottles with water and leave them in the sun as purification. She even goes as far as to suggest that you write 'I love water' on the bottles to affirm a positive effect!

Some of the purest water comes from the sky: The old fashioned way of placing buckets, pots and all sorts of things (even a bath somewhere filling up) in strategic places and catching water, can be an effective means of collection.

Between the years 1991 and 1994 Adam Knight (Architect) was unofficially involved in building residences and self-sufficient communities : Of the experience of living in community in the Tsitsikama forest, Adam says, "the nearest water collection point was three kilometers to the river. Rainwater harvesting was a matter of life and death. Corrugated iron roofs fed into 44 gallon drums, (which were cleaned thoroughly inside). The oildrums were on bricks to stop the bottoms rusting. 200mm of sand and a women's stocking were used to filter the water. The rainwater could be drunk. Eventually after nine months, we had a farm and the water was also used for animals drinking."

His advise is to, "keep some tanks off limits (for season of no rain)." To position the tanks high enough for gravity feed one can build a plinth. Beware as the tanks are very heavy (particularly when full!) "If the tank is on ground level you will have to pump the second half of water. A R300 swimming pool pump gives enough pressure to run through an irrigation system. It is a question of getting creative," says Noel Martin of the Ethical co-op.

'Rainwater Harvesting strategies propose to 'slow down, catch, store and use' every drop that can be used :

The harvesting of water is ancient , but not so ancient. The earliest civilizations like the Bushmen could drink from the rivers. According to www.tn.gov.in "extensive rainwater harvesting apparatus existed 4000 years ago in Palastine and Greece." From www.rainwaterharvesting.org we are reminded that colonial state centralized control over water resources. Post independent state inherited this role. In the past, municipal water was subsidized, giving suburbs an ample supply of cheap water. The times are changing. Townships are getting an equal share of water and now we are getting inflated prices. Adam recalls a neon green T-shirt someone wore in the 80's with red taps all over, and reminds us of the possibility, "turn on the tap, no water?"

 

"As architects, we consider that we cannot practice architecture any longer without integrating energy and water saving features in our projects," says Christophe Rolland of www.palacegroup.co.za

"What I can tell you is that "green" features are always difficult to sustain if you look at them on a purely financial angle. The whole idea in this exercise is to change global approach... and the best way to save energy and water will always remain: use less energy and less water in your daily life..."

Most of the rainwater can be channeled and stored directly in the soil of the vegetable beds, while some can be stored in tanks and/or other containers for later use.'

The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry supplies poor rural households with a private water source for homestead food gardening.

"Organic food production by the poor, in their own backyards, using rainwater harvesting and available rubbish, is good for the environment in every conceivable way, and on top of that, it helps buffer food insecure households against the type of environmental and economic shocks that come around from time to time, notably at the moment: high food and fuel prices and climate change," says Marna de Lange.

In a report from the Department entitled 'War on Hunger', it is stated : "This 'Intensive Family Food Production and Rainwater Harvesting' approach presents an opportunity to harvest 220 000 litres of water from ground surface runoff each year to produce food in home gardens throughout the whole year. Garden sizes of 100 to 200 M2 can be supported at each homestead with measured yields of 1.8 tonnes per year of low cost and immediately accessible food."

This is an example and motivation to all. The project is going further to build Rainwater Harvesting dams in successful households "enabling them to produce things year in year out for twenty years or more."

"We want to expand this to our lands, too, so that the development of the whole area can take place. We want our children to grow up with the understanding that one needs to work for what you get," adds Themba (who has benefited from the programme).

For more information contact marna@global.co.za :

 

A good book to look at is "Rainwater Catchment Systems for Domestic Supply," by John Gould and Erik Nissen-Petersen.

Water harvesting is a slightly broader definition and means 'rainwater harvesting' plus 'grey water recycling. "Grey water is an absolute must, and should become a priority," says Noel.

No kitchen water is to be used without a grease trap.

You can make a rough rock filter for bath water. MaTshepo Khumbane (from the 'War on Hunger' project) advises that people add some woodash to their grey water to help coagulate/settle out impurities/soap residues overnight before using the water on their plants.

An example set by 'sustainable engineer' Richard Pocock from Durban is to "dig a ditch in the low part of your yard. Chuck your melch in the hole and have your grey water run-off into the hole. Plant bananas in the soil around that. Around the banana trees plant papaw's." These plants enjoy the alkaline conditions of the bathwater! Any citrus trees, figs, pomegranites, tomorillos, all do well on grey water.

"Fruit is a secondary process and can deal with grey water. Lettuce for example can't do and will be effected by the chemicals in grey water," describes Noel Martin of Cape Town.

Contact Noel on earthshine@webafrica.org.za for consulting around food gardening.

RAINWATER HARVESTING leads to the Big Idea

Through methane digestors your black water can be transformed into household gases.

"Humanure by Geoffrey Jenkins was at one stage the book most likely to save the planet," recalls Richard.

Jenkins writes : "The simple blunt truth is that we shit everyday and we should be returning that organic material back to the soil." This is the human nutrient cycle.

RECYCLING creates Biofuel

Richard has built a biofuel plant at the mushroom production project in Cotton Lands KZN to provide energy for the on-site laboratory. Human sewerage is converted into methane gas.

According to Adam, a transformation of this nature "will bring down fences. When the shit hits the fan, block by block communities are used. (Block of flats or neighbourhoods operate together). As an example, Mandela's block by block principle was brought into practice in the 1950's as a struggle against politics. We are to use the same tenacity to fight the environmental problem. As South Africans we have been equipped already with a certain "Boer maak n plan" attitude! The South African icon of the windmill , the borehole and the tank of the Karoo has an impermanence."