Rain! Rain! The large raindrops hit the ground hard and later water starts to flow. My people clap hands, beat drums, ululate and dance as a sign of appreciation to God for the rains to quench the thirsty land. We appreciate the rains but we need to ask ourselves, “Where is that water flowing going to?” What do we need? The answer is simple, “water harvesting”.

The ‘Conserve Energy Future’ team defined, water harvesting means capturing rain water, where it falls and capture the runoff from, catchment and streams etc. Generally, water harvesting is direct rainwater collection. This collected water could be stored for later use and recharged into the ground water again. When I grew up mother, whenever it rains used to tell us to put buckets near the roof ends so we could collect water. However, little did I know we were water harvesting.

Water harvesting have many benefits at household level, institutional levels and national level. My focus is water harvesting at household level. Firstly, save money on water bills by using your own water source. Recently, BCC published new water rates, which increased by more than 400%, and this means the expenditure for households on water sharply increased thus failure to meet other household expenditures. Furthermore, it benefits through watering the gardens. In Zimbabwe both urban and rural homes people have gardens in which they grow vegetables for self-consumption and commercial purposes. More so, no water shortage due to water cuts. ZINWA published that the water reservoirs levels were below 25% because of the drought spell in the country thus serious water rationing was to be in place to combat the problem.

There are responsibilities we have to meet in order to enjoy clean and safe water from water harvesting. Rain Harvest South Africa published that roofs made of bamboo could have health hazards. In a similar way, roofs containing metallic paint or similar coatings are unsuitable since they may pass on color and taste to the water that is collected. The surface of roofs should regularly cleansed in order to remove leaves, bird droppings, and dust. This should ensure high quality of collected water.

References

1. Conserve Future Energy, Online Publication, 2020, https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/waterharvesting.php
2. Rain Harvest SA, Online Publication, http://www.rainharvest.co.za/2015/03/advantages-of-rainwater-harvesting-tanks/
3. Zimbabwe Situation, Online Publication, 2018, https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/water-harvesting-infrastructure-pivotal-in-drought-mitigation/