Kapchorwa gets safe water
Jan 17, 2005
Every morning, Ssenyonjo and her daughter, Brenda, go to fetch drinking water from about 5km away. More than 1.3 million people around the world share the same experience. They lack access to clean within a walkable distance. A sufficient supply of clean drinking water is a basic human need.
By Helmut Rählmann
Every morning, Ssenyonjo and her daughter, Brenda, go to fetch drinking water from about 5km away. More than 1.3 million people around the world share the same experience. They lack access to clean within a walkable distance. A sufficient supply of clean drinking water is a basic human need. The World Health Organisation recommends that each person should get at least 23 litres of water a day on a permanent basis.
As a bilateral development programme between Austria and Uganda, water supply and sanitation are priority areas and essential for poverty eradication. To realise this aim at homestead level, a new project is focusing on the implementation of Rainwater Harvesting Systems and construction of houses.
The Kapchorwa-based project, was founded by the Austrian government through HORIZONT3000 and implemented by Integrated Rural Development Initiatives (IRDI), in partnership with Makarere University and the German Development Service (DED) Uganda.
In 2002, the first project was implemented in Luweero district, where over 600 rainwater harvesting tanks at household level with a capacity of between 5,000 and 13,000 litre and community tanks of 60.000 litre were constructed to serve the community with drinking water for domestic and animal use.
The rainwater harvesting tanks are constructed with compressed cement Stabilised Soil Blocks (SSB).
The SSB-technology uses little cement. The compressed cement Stabilised Soil Blocks are tested in a laboratory and made from sub-soil. These bricks are stabilised by 5% ordinary Portland Cement, require no burning and can be used after drying in the shade for about three days.
To construct tanks and houses with SSB-technology, communities were provided with block press machines to produce curved and straight blocks either for water tanks or houses.
The project trained Community-Based Trainers (CBTs) in special ‘on job training’ workshops to enable the community in using block press machines, to construct houses and rainwater harvesting tanks, to fix gutters to the iron-roofed houses and to connect pipes to the water tanks.
By encouraging the community and district officials to construct buildings with the SSB technology, the natural resources are used more efficiently, the surrounded forests are protected and this technology reduces the construction cost drastically. In comparison, the rainwater harvesting tanks constructed with SSB technology is cheaper than plastic tanks. Making 2,000 bricks in the traditional way require 45 m3 of firewood.
The SSB technology requires no firewood at all and all raw materials, except cement, like soil, sand, stones and aggregate are obtained from the area. The construction is three times faster because the blocks are interlocking and this makes a strong bond between the bricks, which requires very little mortor and plaster.
More and more people like Ssenyonjo can afford to construct water tanks and houses with the new technology. In her village, the provision of clean water has reduced waterborne diseases, minimised the workload for women and children fetching water from far distances and increased awareness that this technology saves their environment and contributes highly to decrease the deforestation in semi-arid areas in Uganda.
IRDI is constructing 400 rainwater harvesting tanks and houses in some selected places in Kapchorwa district.
Every morning, Ssenyonjo and her daughter, Brenda, go to fetch drinking water from about 5km away. More than 1.3 million people around the world share the same experience. They lack access to clean within a walkable distance. A sufficient supply of clean drinking water is a basic human need. The World Health Organisation recommends that each person should get at least 23 litres of water a day on a permanent basis.
As a bilateral development programme between Austria and Uganda, water supply and sanitation are priority areas and essential for poverty eradication. To realise this aim at homestead level, a new project is focusing on the implementation of Rainwater Harvesting Systems and construction of houses.
The Kapchorwa-based project, was founded by the Austrian government through HORIZONT3000 and implemented by Integrated Rural Development Initiatives (IRDI), in partnership with Makarere University and the German Development Service (DED) Uganda.
In 2002, the first project was implemented in Luweero district, where over 600 rainwater harvesting tanks at household level with a capacity of between 5,000 and 13,000 litre and community tanks of 60.000 litre were constructed to serve the community with drinking water for domestic and animal use.
The rainwater harvesting tanks are constructed with compressed cement Stabilised Soil Blocks (SSB).
The SSB-technology uses little cement. The compressed cement Stabilised Soil Blocks are tested in a laboratory and made from sub-soil. These bricks are stabilised by 5% ordinary Portland Cement, require no burning and can be used after drying in the shade for about three days.
To construct tanks and houses with SSB-technology, communities were provided with block press machines to produce curved and straight blocks either for water tanks or houses.
The project trained Community-Based Trainers (CBTs) in special ‘on job training’ workshops to enable the community in using block press machines, to construct houses and rainwater harvesting tanks, to fix gutters to the iron-roofed houses and to connect pipes to the water tanks.
By encouraging the community and district officials to construct buildings with the SSB technology, the natural resources are used more efficiently, the surrounded forests are protected and this technology reduces the construction cost drastically. In comparison, the rainwater harvesting tanks constructed with SSB technology is cheaper than plastic tanks. Making 2,000 bricks in the traditional way require 45 m3 of firewood.
The SSB technology requires no firewood at all and all raw materials, except cement, like soil, sand, stones and aggregate are obtained from the area. The construction is three times faster because the blocks are interlocking and this makes a strong bond between the bricks, which requires very little mortor and plaster.
More and more people like Ssenyonjo can afford to construct water tanks and houses with the new technology. In her village, the provision of clean water has reduced waterborne diseases, minimised the workload for women and children fetching water from far distances and increased awareness that this technology saves their environment and contributes highly to decrease the deforestation in semi-arid areas in Uganda.
IRDI is constructing 400 rainwater harvesting tanks and houses in some selected places in Kapchorwa district.