Rainwater Harvesting for Sustainable Water Supply Green Infrastructure
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Advanced Research Financial Issues Urban Drainage Watershed Protection 16 Biochar filtration 18 P3 solutions 21 SuDS progress in UK 25 GI drainage Volume 3 / Issue 1 February / March 2015 MANAGEMENT Rainwater harvesting for sustainable water supply Green Infrastructure Building rainwater harvesting capacity in Mexico Current and returned Peace Corps México volunteers Jason Berner, Elena Neibaur, and Gregory Lohrke report on three projects that helped to build local capacity for rainwater harvesting in the Mexican state of Puebla. Volunteers successfully improved water supply resiliency and drove local engagement through training and installation in rural, underserved, and university communities. ince 2009, Peace Corps México has Diego La Mesa Tochimiltzingo in the Mexican from existing sources by increasing rainwater worked with the United States Agency state of Puebla, and El Rosario in the state use for domestic activities. However, although Sfor International Development (USAID) of Tlaxcala. These five grants were funded rainfall is abundant in Zacatlan, it is rarely to effectively and strategically use small grants to help these communities adapt to harsher collected by large institutions for non-potable funding to support community development climates and confront local water scarcity by uses. Due to the changing realities of the area’s projects that are consistent with the Peace implementing RWH systems. The following available water resources, some businesses Corps approach. This approach emphasizes RWH projects are examples of collaborations and institutions in Zacatlan are reevaluating building the capacity of community between Peace Corps Volunteers and host- the utility of captured rainwater. In particular, organizations, service providers, and country counterparts that have increased the the Instituto Tecnológico Superior de la Sierra individuals. It also promotes sustainable knowledge and technical capacity of over 330 Norte (ITSSNP), the Zacatlan university where behavior and systems changes in communities individual project participants. Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Jason Berner where Peace Corps works. For instance, served from 2013 to 2014, maintains a great volunteers in Mexico work closely with their RWH education for a university interest in harvesting rainwater for non-potable host-country agencies and community partners community uses because it consumes large volumes of to build local capacity in environmental In the municipality of Zacatlan, Puebla, the municipal water. Due to this prevailing interest, education and to promote green practices and municipal drinking water utility is concerned Berner focused on training ITSSNP students, the implementation of new applied technologies. with the trend of annual decreases in rainfall faculty, maintenance staff, and community In Mexico, this has included building and volumes being captured and treated. This is members in various aspects of integrating facilitating community adoption of rainwater largely attributed to deforestation from timber RWH systems into campus operations. harvesting (RWH) systems in rural and harvesting and mining activities within With Peace Corps leadership and USAID urban areas. the drinking watershed in Zacatlan. Also of SPA grant funding, Berner facilitated the From October 2013 to September 2014, concern is the growing population of Zacatlan, planning and execution of a RWH workshop five of the 25 Small Project Assistance (SPA) which will require new ways of meeting in February 2014. Workshop participation grants funded by USAID have gone to support increasing potable water demands. One way included representatives from the university four communities in central Mexico: Zacatlan to bridge the gap between supply and demand staff, student body, municipal water utility, de las Manzanas, San Jose Xacxamayo, San is to reduce the consumption of potable water local rotary club chapter, local businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and Peace Corps México. During the multi-day workshop, RAINFALL IS participants designed and built the first RWH ABUNDANT cistern constructed for an ITSSNP campus building and learned maintenance procedures IN ZACATLAN, for its future operation. The project is ultimately BUT IT IS designed to help ITSSNP meet international RARELY environmental management standards for reducing potable water consumption. The COLLECTED project will also help reduce costs associated BY LARGE with purchased water through rainwater INSTITUTIONS collection and water-saving technologies. The FOR NON- pilot system is monitored daily and expected to harvest 200,000 liters of rainfall annually. It is POTABLE USES. estimated that annual baseline potable water use for the building will be reduced by 75 percent. With additional USAID funding and Xacxamayo community community resources, Berner also facilitated members as young a RWH and water conservation business and as six years old research seminar – hosted by ITSSNP and are responsible for collecting water from the local rotary club in the spring of 2014. distant wells. Image Expert speakers from non-governmental credit: Diego Rodrigo organizations, including Isla Urbana and Sarar 10 World Water: Stormwater Management February / March 2015 Green Infrastructure RAINWATER HARVESTING PROJECTS HAVE HELPED XACXAMAYO ACHIEVE A MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY, SOCIALLY, AND ECONOMICALLY SUSTAINABLE AND RELIABLE WATER SOURCE – PROVIDING RESILIENCE AGAINST THE RAINFALL FLUCTUATIONS THE COMMUNITY IS EXPECTED TO ENCOUNTER DUE TO REGIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE. Left: In San Jose Xacxamayo, Mexico, during the second day of constructing the rainwater KDUYHVWLQJWDQNVEHQHƮFLDULHVZRUNDORQJVLGH local skilled workers. Image by Elena Neibaur. Transformación, as well as the Universidad that is available comes from distant wells filter will cost the beneficiary less than $10. Nacional Autónoma de México were invited to or must be purchased from water tankers Neibaur’s projects also focused on capacity speak at the seminar on various RWH topics. arriving from other communities. Residents of building, including workshops covering Speaker panels addressed local opportunities Xacxamayo have used RWH for more than 10 the technical and practical aspects of RWH for RWH businesses, implementing affordable years as a supplemental measure to meet their and filtration. Additional efforts focused decentralized wastewater treatment facilities, daily water needs. However, some households on establishing a water quality monitoring university landscape water conservation do not have the means to construct their own committee, which received additional training practices, and reusing wastewater nutrients rainwater tanks, or tanks are not adequately on how to periodically test post-filtration water for landscaping. A student team from ITSSNP sized to meet a family’s annual water quality to ensure proper user maintenance presented on the previously installed RWH demands. Existing storage systems have and optimal filter condition. system, giving a tour of the pilot system for been adequate for the six-month rainy season These RWH projects have helped community members interested in similar when annual precipitation averages about 700 Xacxamayo achieve a more environmentally, designs. The student team also outlined a millimeters, but during the later stages of the socially, and economically sustainable and proposal for retrofitting two existing cisterns dry season, this capacity often falls short of reliable water source – providing resilience on the university campus for rainwater household water needs. against the rainfall fluctuations the community capture. Rotary club members discussed To address the community’s water needs, is expected to encounter due to regional climate annual potable water savings for a typical Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Elena change. More than 40 percent of community residential RWH system in the community. Neibaur was able to secure a USAID SPA residents benefitted from the combined The seminar also initiated discussion among grant and other local and international funding projects, and the majority of residents now attendees for plans to implement new RWH to initiate several rooftop RWH collection have an adequate water supply for household and water conservation projects throughout projects from November 2012 to October 2014. demands throughout the year. The augmented the municipality by 2015. These projects included the implementation water supply for these community members Post-project monitoring and evaluation of 82 household RWH tanks of 10,000-liter also has eliminated the need to purchase water results from community participants identified capacity and the installation of 70 ceramic from tanker trucks in many cases, saving the availability of financial resources, technical filters for treating captured rainwater to an average of $50 per household annually. knowledge, and skilled workers as the most produce potable water. Using stone masonry, Finally, RWH has reduced the number of time- important requirements for successfully the RWH cisterns were built underground consuming trips taken to retrieve water at local implementing RWH and water conservation to increase structural stability and conserve wells – trips that are primarily taken by the projects in Zacatlan. Encouraging and valuable above-ground space. Each cistern women and children of each household. facilitating community partnerships between was constructed over an average of five days Neibaur’s projects were implemented ITSSNP, community