Analysis and design of household rainwater catchment systems for rural Rwanda

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI) contacted MIT in September 2006 for technical assistance to analyze the water-supply potential within the Bisate Sector, Musanze District, Rwanda. The present study focuses on designing low-cost household rainwater catchment systems to improve the quantity and quality of water available and therefore achieve higher standards of living for the Bisate village. Given the climatic and geographic characteristics of Bisate, rainwater harvesting represents one of the most appropriate solutions to improve water supply. The designed low-cost household rainwater catchment system consists of an excavated cistern of 6 cubic meters volume, lined with a plastic tarpaulin sheet and covered with a wood and iron lid, and with a hand pump to extract water. The cistern should provide an average of 16 liters/day/person for the entire year for medium-size houses (roof area of 35 m2) and 21.5 liters/day/person for large-size houses (82 m2). The excavated cistern is designed with walls to stop surface runoff from entering into the cistern, and a hard cover and hand pump to extract water and minimize water contamination from faecal bacteria. The implementation of these small-scale rainwater harvesting systems should improve water quality and supply for the families of Bisate Village.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Cresti, Daria

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Peter Shanahan.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38941

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/38941