Want to be energy sufficient? Start with rain harvesting
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot

It rains in Ghana to the point that properties are destroyed annually by the down pour. The damages are reported and lamented. But unfortunately many of the very papers that report the damages fail to regret the waste of this resource as it drains away, evaporates or eventually ends up in the sea unutilized.

Then after the rains, we continue our dependency on the main water sources in the country for mundane things like gardening, car washing, laundry and flushing the toilet; using the very waters we need to turn the turbines to generate power.

This dependency on surface water must be reduced. And it is one area that rain harvesting can help.

Ghana is in the grip of a serious energy crisis. The pity is if this goes on unchecked a lot of the recent credible gains in the national economy will be wiped away as major industries either shut down or have their hours of production truncated.

Some argue that it is the course of nature that has brought this hardship. But it must also be said that we have been contributing to this misfortune by not helping with sensible acts to ameliorate the hardship.

There have been talks about adding nuclear, solar and other sophisticated options to our energy supply sources. While these ideas may be worthy of a nation like ours, they are not options that can be brought on stream overnight. We need something that can have impact within a year or two.

So it is time to ask whether anybody within our urban planning system has ever heard of rain harvesting and why it is not required in our building plans.

Simply stated rain harvesting is the practice of collecting rain water from the very location it is falling. It has been practiced for centuries. Some countries have raised the practice to the level of almost perfection. It is impossible to travel through countries like Morocco and not be impressed by the practice.

And it is also impossible not to recall that rain harvesting was once a common practice in Ghana.

I grew up in the then Gold Coast knowing houses that were constructed to harvest rain. My grandfather’s house, for instance, had such a system. Gutters ran on the edges of the roof to collect rain and the water was used to recharge the deep well located at the center of the house.

My grandfather, a pastor from the Old Basel Mission, took the technology from the missionaries. The well at the center of the house had a large throated iron caste pump that sat on top of it. It emitted a sweet gurgling sound when applied for water, a sound which children loved but unfortunately were forbidden to use the pump.

The systems lasted for a few years after my grandfather’s death. As our town grew modern, or so we thought, we acquired our running water from the public system when it became available and soon the well fell into disuse, neglect and started breeding mosquitoes. So we had it closed. It was a foolish mistake and a costly one that was repeated by many households across the nation.

With the current energy crisis, a renewed interest in rain harvesting is necessary now. The technology is simple and ought to be required of every new dwelling or house constructed.

Skills for rain harvesting are uncomplicated. The equipment, unlike those for nuclear or solar, can be constructed in Ghana to include a filtration system. The effort can spin a low tech industry and a boost to the economy.

With the rain harvest system, each house will have gutters running from the edges of the roof into a tank or well. At the most basic level, the collected water can then be used for watering gardens, washing cars or doing those chores that do not require human consumption. With an efficient filtration system added, the same fixture can also produce good drinking water.

So through a mere, affordable shift in our building codes, demands on our major water supply sources can be reduced. Water saved daily can then be reserved in our dams and reservoirs to produce energy.

Research figures from Indian indicates that a resident of New Delhi, India, with a roof area of 100 square meters can harvest 195,520 liters of water annually and that this will be enough to satisfy “the drinking water demands of a family of four for 4888 days.”

The benefits of rain harvesting will not accrue to energy only. Experts say that rain water can be superior in quality to that of tap-water from public utility companies. It is sodium free since the harvest process will not require chlorine for purification. This makes it safe for those on low-sodium diet to drink the filtered version.

Also, because of its zero hardness, it is kinder on appliances like dish washers and washing machines, and, therefore, can extend the life span of these machines.

Rain harvesting will also be good news for the environment. The volume of water that ends up in sewers and gutters to cause flood in flat areas will be reduced. The city of Accra, for instance, will be spared the seasonal floods.

The best part of the bargain is that water from the rains is free and it falls on every roof, whether one wants it or not. Additionally, when citizens begin to use rain as a source for water supply, they are more likely to become conscious of the need for a clean environment. Their roofs, for instance, will be debris free.

Just by collecting one’s own water, citizens can get a sense of how runoffs from the same rain end up in our public reservoirs for consumption. They can then understand the more complex one used by public utilities to cull water from some of the same sources.

Whether government will demand that all new houses and existing ones that are structurally sound be rain harvest friendly is now the question.

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Washington, DC, April 22, 2007