University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School January 2012 Rainwater Harvesting Storage Methods and Self Supply in Uganda Jonathan Peter Blanchard University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, and the Civil Engineering Commons Scholar Commons Citation Blanchard, Jonathan Peter, "Rainwater Harvesting Storage Methods and Self Supply in Uganda" (2012). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3979 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Rainwater Harvesting Storage Methods and Self Supply in Uganda by Jonathan Blanchard A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Civil Engineering Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering College of Engineering University of South Florida Major Professor: James Mihelcic, Ph.D. Daniel Yeh, Ph.D. Jan Droegkamp, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 20, 2012 Keywords: RWH, Rakai, Engineering, Sustainability, Peace Corps Copyright © 2012, Jonathan Blanchard ! DEDICATION “Nay, the same Solomon the king, although he excelled in the glory of treasure and magnificent buildings, of shipping and navigation, of service and attendance, of fame and renown, and the like, yet he maketh no claim to any of those glories, but only to the glory of inquisition of truth; for so he saith expressly, ‘The glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the glory of the king is to find it out’; as if, according to the innocent play of children, the Divine Majesty took delight to hide his works, to the end to have them found out; and as if kings could not obtain a greater honour than to be God’s play-fellows in that game.” -Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1605) ! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to thank the Ugandan stakeholders who generously shared their expertise with me: Paito Obote and Dorothy Baziwe of URWA, Paul Bisoborwa and Joel Kiwanuka with the MWE, Dunstan Damulira of ACORD, George Kasibante with the Rakai District Water Office, Paul Ahura of World Vision, Kristin Kakuruga with TSU 7, Chemisto Satya with SNV, Dan Kigula and Edward Kyabaggu with CIDI, Joseph Mubiru with COWESER, and Isaac Bukenya with the ATC. Thanks also to Kirsten Danert of RWSN for input on selecting my topic. Above all, thanks to my dear friend Max Ssenyonga, without whom I would have accomplished little and enjoyed even less during my time in Uganda. I also want to thank Jim Mihelcic, my advisor, for inviting me to be a part of this program and his patience and advice along the way. Thanks also to the other members of my committee: Daniel Yeh, civil engineering professor at USF, and Jan Droegkamp, the Peace Corps Program and Training Officer while I was in Uganda. Thanks also to my family for their love and support, most of all to my wife Elsy. Finally, I want to acknowledge Peter Bosscher, whose passion, dedication, and vision continue to inspire me to do what I do. Thanks for taking the time to teach me about ! world-formational Christianity, using engineering to change the world, and avoiding self- referential incoherence. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation, under grant number 0965743. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. ! ! TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................. iii LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1 1.1 Water, Health, and Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Progress ..............1 1.2 Self Supply.........................................................................................................1 1.3 Domestic Rainwater Harvesting (DRWH) ........................................................5 1.4 The Ugandan Context ........................................................................................7 1.5 Motivation, Objectives, and Hypotheses ...........................................................9 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................12 2.1 General Self Supply and History .....................................................................12 2.2 Country Specific Progress................................................................................18 2.2.1 Zambia ..............................................................................................18 2.2.2 Ethiopia.............................................................................................21 2.2.3 Mali...................................................................................................22 2.2.4 Tanzania............................................................................................24 2.2.5 Uganda ..............................................................................................25 2.3 Domestic Rainwater Harvesting (DRWH) in Uganda.....................................31 CHAPTER 3: METHODS AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS ......................................36 3.1 Rakai District ...................................................................................................36 3.2 Boundary Conditions .......................................................................................38 3.3 Data Collection ................................................................................................39 3.4 Stakeholders.....................................................................................................46 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS & DISCUSSION ......................................................................51 4.1 Traditional/Informal.........................................................................................52 4.1.1 Clay Pots ...........................................................................................52 4.1.2 Pots and Basins .................................................................................52 4.1.3 Brick Masonry Tanks........................................................................53 4.2 Manufactured Products ....................................................................................53 4.2.1 Fifty-Five Gallon Metal Drums ........................................................55 i ! ! 4.2.2 Corrugated Iron Tanks ......................................................................56 4.2.3 Plastic Tanks .....................................................................................57 4.3 Built-in-Place Products ....................................................................................63 4.3.1 Mortar Jars ........................................................................................64 4.3.2 Tarpaulin Tanks ................................................................................66 4.3.3 Ferrocement Tanks............................................................................68 4.3.4 Partially Below Ground Ferrocement (PBG) Tanks ........................71 4.3.5 Interlocking Stabilized Soil Brick (ISSB) Tanks .............................72 4.4 Discussion .......................................................................................................74 4.4.1 Rainwater Storage Technologies .....................................................74 4.4.2 Access ..............................................................................................74 4.4.3 Cost ..................................................................................................79 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH...............................................................................................96 5.1 Conclusions......................................................................................................96 5.2 Recommendations for Future Research...........................................................97 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................102 APPENDIX 1: PERMISSIONS.......................................................................................108 APPENDIX 2: VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF SEVERAL OF THE WATER STORAGE TANK TECHNOLOGIES DISCUSSED IN THIS RESEARCH ..........................................................................................109 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ...................................................................................END PAGE ii ! 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LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Comparison of conventional and self supply approaches (Sutton, 2004, with permission)................................................................................................16 Table 2.2 Self supply impact on the MDG’s (Sutton, 2008, with permission)..................17 Table 2.3 Description of the rainwater harvesting