: Bank-On-Rain

Raintanks

By Schools for Water Posted on Tue 26 Oct 2010, over 13 years ago

How much does a raintank cost on average? Will the labor be local? Will these water tanks include a filtration system?

Raintanks

By Bank-On-Rain Posted on Tue 26 Oct 2010, over 13 years ago

Katie, the tank cost is by far the greatest expense for a rainfall catchment system. If purchased new, these costs are in the fifty cents to $1 per gallon range. This is generally less expensive that drilled wells, however we try to encourage recycling suitable food-grade containers that in many cases can be obtained an no cost. Food processors often get bulk materials in plastic containers that they must pay to have recycled and are happy to donate them at no cost, if one can provide the transport.

In the proposed ablution installation in Rwanda (see "documents" in sidebar) we have incorporated into the design 250 gallon "fish totes" used on fishing vessels and in seafood processing plants. In Rwanda and eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo the United Nations has deployed the largest peace-keeping force in the world (17,000 troops) and also operates refugee camps on both sides of the border, Massive amounts of food supplies are transported to this part of the world, and many of the shipping containers are suitable for use as catchment tanks. Our proposed demonstration project at the Gashora Girls Academy will initially utilize the "fish totes" we have already collected, but also include locally acquired food containers. The students will help with the installation at the school, then hopefully return to their home villages with the knowledge to duplicate these catchment systems at home.

At the community level, water cisterns can be constucted from local building materials, but in general, significant health benefits can be realized at low cost and little or no dependance on outside labor or technology. Once a demonstration project is installed and operational, it can be duplicated by local labor utilizing local resources.

The question of filtration systems is a good one, as it leads into a discussion of what is "appropriate technology". Rainfall collected from the roof of a school or home should be free of the human pathogens found in rivers/streams responsible for dysentery. Filters require frequent changing and therefore ongoing cost. With proper installation, a simple catchment system without filtering provides a safe source of potable water that can be affordable in most village settings.

Rainwater as a source of potable water

By Aqua Clara International Posted on Fri 29 Oct 2010, over 13 years ago

Greetings from Kenya and welcome to the peer review process!

Aqua Clara has just acquired a training center in a small village in a rural community in Kenya we plan to build a demonstration rain water harvesting system at the training center. As Rajesh has said, it will be great to BoR as a resource for consultation as organization such as Aqua Clara work to expand their programs. Partnering with other organizations (such as ourselves!) with established programs that already have networks on the ground could be a valuable way for BoR to have a great impact.

My question centers around the issue of rainwater as a source of safe drinking water. I agree that the rainwater is not as contaminated by fecal pathogens as ground and surface water sources, but in my experience of testing rainwater from various types of rainwater catchment systems in Kenya, it is still not of a quality that is safe to drink. I understand that the systems that we have tested are not as sophisticated either in design or in construction as the ones that BoR is talking about, but I think some sort of treatment after harvesting will always be necessary if the rainwater is to be stored for any significant length of time. One of the myths that we often have to counteract in Kenya is that rainwater is completely safe!

Aqua Clara uses 75 liter water containers (jerrycans) for our water filters, and have found that when we order in bulk, direct from the manufacturer, that we can achieve a much lower price than available on the local market (the delivered price of our filter containers is in the $4-5 range). With rainwater harvesting in mind, we have also investigated prices for larger scale units and again have been quoted prices that are far below rural market price. It is planned that our filter entrepreneurs will be our distribution network when we introduce rain water harvesting. We have found from experience that people don't necessarily just go with a project after having been trained or seen a demonstration. As you mentioned, with people living on around $1/day some sort of loan or micro-finance initiative will be very important. Could you give more specifics and a detailed breakdown on the full cost of the system that have installed in Rwanda?

I like the idea of recycling other containers and will be interested to see how this approach goes. Transport costs are no doubt going to be a significant consideration but I think you have some good ideas.

Best wishes with the review process,
Claire

Rainwater as a source of potable water

By Bank-On-Rain Posted on Fri 29 Oct 2010, over 13 years ago

Claire, thank you for your comments. I totally agree that harvested rainwater may have some health concerns, but the point I was trying to make was that for a household existing on $1 per day, the relative merits of simple catchment make it far superior to using untreated surface water.

The simple act of storing water is shown to improve the quality with time. If there is low organic content, baterial contamination falls dramatically as these bacteri die due to lack of nutrients and substrate on which to grow. Settlement of paticulate matter in the water also "filters" it, as bacteria collect on surfaces and settle out of the water volume

Of course it would be preferred to have a filtering system if justified by cost and a system designed to serve a training center, school, community water system and the like may be able to supoort the small increase in unit cost. Please understand that we are not against water treatment and filtration, but one of our primary missions is to address the alarming infant mortality attributed to dysentery caused by unsafe drinking water. If properly collected and stored, rainwater is relatively free of human pathegens responsible for much of the deaths during the first 3 years of a childs life. Where justified by resources, we encourage better systems and as village ecomomies improve, so might their water systems.

An ideal system for a rual setting might include a particulate filter and UV sterilization powered by a photo voltaic panel, but such a system is currently beyond the reach of many. We believe that the $10,000 to $15,000 cost of a drilled well can much more effectively be used to educate and train people to construct simple systems that will improve the health of their families. As an important additional benefit, the women and girls tasked with daily collection and transporting water can use that time/effort to the benefit of their families and community.

BOR would be very interested in becoming involved with the Aqua Clara training center, as we strongly believe that demonstation projects can maximize investment value. We would like to learn more about the training center in Kenya and perhaps we could contribute to the system design or review, if already been completed. These are the sorts of interactions that we understood to be the strength of the PWX concept.

Regarding recycling food-grade containers and transportation costs, an important consideration is the shape of the container, especially the ability to "nest" or stack, permitting many units to be transported in a given volume. The blue plastic barrels and "fish totes" shown on our website are attractive for this reason. They also have the advantage that many can be transported to a remote site in a small pickup truck.

To address cost, one of our founders is very active in social media and has located plumbing suppliers and manufacturers interested in donating product to demontration projects in the developing world. The next step is to identify organizations routinely transporting shipping containers willing to let us fill-in empty space.

This is a very stimulating process. We look forward to continuing interaction with PWX members. Thank you for your comments.
Mike

Rainwater as a source of potable water

By Bank-On-Rain Posted on Fri 29 Oct 2010, over 13 years ago

Hi Clara,
I'd just like to respond to your first paragraph and to thank you very much for recognizing the BoR strategy of remaining small and nimble while partnering with other organizations ~ to have great impact.

Our assessment is we can be very efficient with a small expert team and very few resources. We can fund raise or joint fund raise with partners, or go the corporate sponsor route to bring in the limited resources we need to function as collaborators and /or advisers to other groups and organizations and have great impact. At present what ever our team contributes, which does not require travel to your location, we are doing to build BoR recognition as viable players in making safe drinking water available one raindrop at a time to developing regions of the planet. We would really be very interested in helping you in any way we can and I might add the internet and how we communicate today has made much collaboration so very possible without travel. Cheers to all.

Rainwater as a source of potable water

By Bank-On-Rain Posted on Wed 17 Nov 2010, over 13 years ago

Hi to all,

I dont know if this is late to the game but I did want to add something. A new website for RAINBANK / Ken Blair who is one of our BoR directors. Check out www.rainbank.info/about.

Though this website was created for the American customer it gives you an idea of the type of expertise and experience RAINBANK brings to the mix. When I started mentoring Ken, Rainbank was an idea, then a name and now is a sustainable growing business. We all are very aware that an idea is just that, until we take it and we make it a reality.

Cheers to all.