Rain Harvesting and the Lack Thereof

An ancient and modern technology Rain Harvesting has the potential to provide a considerable portion of the African continent's water needs. A report contends that the:

Overall the quantity of rain falling across the continent is equivalent to the needs of 9 billion people, one and half times the current global population. About a third of Africa is deemed suitable for rainwater harvesting if a threshold of 200 millimetres of arrival rainfall, considered to be at the lower end of the scale, is used...“Africa is not water scarce,” the report concludes. “The rainfall contribution is more than adequate to meet the needs of the current population several times over. For example Kenya would not be categorized as a ‘water stressed country’ if rainwater harvesting is considered. The water crisis in Africa is more of an economic problem from lack of investment, and not a matter of physical scarcity.”

Rain Water Harvesting has the potential to supplement conventional ground and surface water sources in a manner that is distributive. Non-hierarchical.Organizations like the Global Rain Water Harvesting Collective (an affiliate of the Barefoot College) are at the forefront of this movement towards providing easy access to clean drinking,they state that:

Rainwater harvesting using rooftops and underground tanks is a traditional approach established over hundreds of years. Rainfall on rooftops is collected and channeled into underground tanks or small reservoirs that can store and provide enough safe drinking water to meet daily needs for months. This is a viable and sustainable solution to providing safe drinking water for the poorest of the poor around the world.

Image via broken city lab

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