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IRDI Prepares Residents of Kamuli to Participate in Local Government Planning
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j- Making Fuel Efficient Stoves Sustaianble in Rakai
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Kamuli Beekeepers Learn through Exposure Visit
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MORTAR RAIN WATER JARS ARE INTRODUCED IN NAMAYUMBA
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BY RUTH NABAGGALA
IRDI is a new partner with WaterAid. Together with Wakiso district, the partnership focuses on developing and documenting good practices and approaches towards household water supplies with specific focus on low-cost rain water-harvesting.
The first phase of the two year project aims at improving livelihood of the people of Nama-yumba sub-county where 3000 people lack access to safe water. Namayumba is the least served sub-county in the district with safe water coverage of 29% compared to the district average of 55%.
WaterAid organised a five-day workshop on the construction of the mortar rain water jar starting 14th June. The workshop included two major stakeholders; the district as key planners in the localised water sector and IRDI as the implementing agency of the water project. Among others, the district officials included the district health inspector and the sub-county chief of Namayumba sub-county
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MOULD: The wooden mould that shapes the water Jar.
The workshop served two purposes; it was supposed to impart skills in construction of the water jar to IRDI as the implementing agency, as well as create awareness about rainwater harvesting as an affordable means of increasing accessibility to water.
The mortar water jar is to be promoted in the sub-county for purposes of increasing accessibility to safe water through rain water harvesting. This is not a new practice in Namayumba. The project however aims to increase the amount of water harvested through increasing the capacity of the containers used. Currently households are using large pots with a capacity
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© Integrated Rural Development Initiatives (IRDI)
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of 60 liters. The water jar to be promoted has a capacity of over 1500 litres. The jar can therefore be used by about five neighbouring households to harvest and store drinking water. The jar costs Ug Shs 100,000/=. The cost can be shared among the five beneficiary households which makes the jar cheaper. The jar takes less than 5 days to construct and does not require a lot of energy compared to the other types of water tanks.
Women are very capable of constructing this jar which means they can construct them without labour input from men. This makes the technology cheaper and accessible for women as the key users of the jars. The water jar has other advantages over point water sources such as protected springs and boreholes. It is easy to replicate and since it is constructed in the home, it makes water very accessible to people with disabilities and the old.
Materials needed for this jar are very few and cheap. These include two wheel barrows of lake sand, one wheel barrow of plaster sand, two bags of cement, water proof cement, mud, and reusable moulds which can be used for many more water jars.
The jar could also be constructed so that the overflow from one jar pours into another jar. In this way water is not wasted once the first jar is filled up.
During the workshop, the technical officer emphasized that the jar can last over 20 years, if
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DONE: A completed water jar.
it is carefully taken care of and out of reach of playing children.
Spectators at the workshop were impressed by the simplicity of the construction process of the jar. The use of a reusable mould onto which mortar is cast is very similar to construction of mud and wattle houses common in rural areas. Secondly, spectators found the jar affordable and some of them were ready to pay so as to have it in their homes. The women of Nama-yumba were the most excited since they bear the burden of fetching water.
The five day workshop successfully ended with the making of final touches on the water jar before it was handed over to Namayumba sub-county.
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Integrated Rural Development Initiatives
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