24 40 Green World Actions
11 • Low-cost parts of sand, small gravel (if available),
and water to make the bottom of the
Water Tanks cylinder.
5. Place a PVC pipe 20 cm long (8”) in the
lower part of the cylinder. This tube
A water reservoir can store rainwater for do- will remain closed and only be used
mestic use or for irrigating a vegetable garden. to drain the tank after cleaning. Place
Many already use fuel drums. This section also another PVC pipe 20 cm (8 inch) over
describes other inexpensive containers such the bottom of the tank. This tube will
as the straw mat tank and the brick tank. Little be the water outlet.
cement is needed because they are reinforced 6. Mix cement and water to form a thin
with steel wire. solution and “paint” both the inside and
The tank can be placed under a roof to col- the outside of the cylinder with a large
lect rainwater or just beside a well with a brush. Let it dry for about half a day.
rope pump to store irrigation water. 7. Mix 1 part of cement with 3 parts of
sand and water. Place the mixture on
Straw mat tank both sides of the cylinder as thinly as
Low-cost possible - maximum 3 to 4 cm.
water 1. Take the materials to the place where 8. The area where the tubes are, need
tank you will build the tank. It should be a to be reinforced with a thicker layer
made of place where it is easy to collect water. - about 7 to 8 cm. The area where the
straw It should also be elevated so that the wall ends meet the bottom should also
water can be be reinforced.
drained out of 9. Let the tank dry for 10 days in a humid
the holes environment - covered with grass or
2. A mat made leaves and watered everyday.
of bamboo or 10. Place a sponge or a piece of cotton in
strong grass the water outlet to filter impurities. This
is made into step is also important if the water is be-
the shape of a ing used for drip irrigation. It will keep
cylinder or a the little holes from getting blocked.
drum. There
should be a Using a fuel drum as a water
double layer. The mat can be cut into reservoir
two long strips to make a small cylinder.
Or use two The following are the necessary steps to
mats to make convert a fuel drum into a water tank:
a larger tank. • Cut the bottom of the drum.
3. Reinforce • Smooth out the sharp edges.
the cylinder • Buy a “T” shaped water pipe fitting and
with three cir- place it into the small threaded hole on
cles of steel the lid.
wire. • Connect two hoses to the “T” joint. The
4. Mix 1 part of hoses can be connected with bicycle
cement with 5 tubes if fittings are not available.
11 - Water - Low-cost Water Tanks 25
Brick water tank 12. Put a 3 cm
thick ce-
Materials for a 400 litre tank. 3 layers of ment lay-
bricks. Diameter 0.85 m. Height 0.70 m: er on the
• 90 bricks (23 cm x 11cm), floor of the
• 30 m black steel wire (1.5 mm), tank.
• ½ bag of cement, 13. Mix cement
• 2 bags of sand, and water
• 0.5 m of 1” PVC pipe or other pipe. (no sand)
to form a Measure
1. Clean a circular area with diameter of at thin solution and “paint” on the inside with a
least 1.3 m and make it horizontal and of the tank with a tool or large brush. stick to
flat. Let it dry for about half a day. ensue a
2. Draw a circle of 85 cm, for instance with 14. Let the cement cure. Cover the tank circle is
a piece of wire and 2 sticks. with plastic sheet or paper and KEEP IT formed
3. Place a first round of bricks outside WET dur-
this circle, with the long sides vertically. ing 10 days.
Clean the bricks to ensure that they are Put water
more or less even. twice or
4. Secure a wire around the bricks at 3 cm more eve-
from the top. Tighten the wire by mak- ry day!!
ing a loop at one end and pull through 15. Place a filter
the other end. (Sponge or
5. Secure two other wires. One in the mid- old sock)
dle and one 3 cm from the bottom. on the in-
6. Place a second and a third round of side of the water outlet to filter impu- Scrape the
bricks on top and also place wires as in rities. This is important if the water is edges of
steps 4 and 5. used for drip irrigation. It will keep the the bricks
7. Mix one part of cement (start with 1/3 little holes from getting blocked. so that
bag of cement) with 4 parts of sand, they fit
small gravel (if available), and water. Larger tanks can be made by making a closely
8. Apply a thin layer on the outside and in- bigger circle
side of the tank just to cover the bricks. and increasing
9. Cut a 25 cm long steel pipe or thick the number of
walled PVC pipe of 1” to make the bricks and ce-
water outlet. ment accord-
10. If a steel pipe is used, weld pieces of ingly.
round bar to it to fix it in the cement.
If PVC is used, put PVC glue and sand
to increase the grip of the pipe in the
cement, or make the PVC pipe end a Make the
bit square by heating in a fire. Text and photos kindly provided by Henk Holt- bricks wet
11. Place the pipe 3 cm from the bottom slag,
[email protected] before
and make the wall thickness at the part Additional information from Jan de Jongh, applying
of the outlet 15 cm thick. Arrakis, www.arrakis.nl cement
26 40 Green World Actions
12 • Making Alternative: Make a good scratch along the
angle iron (ruler) and bend the sheet several
Gutters times. The edges will be straighter.
2. Make the gutter into a round shape
An efficient rainwater collection system with a “gutter bender.”
needs gutters, and these can be expensive.
However, it is possible to build low-cost
gutters from corrugated galvanized metal
sheets. In Ghana, it is possible to build gut-
ters for US$ 0.7 per metre. This type of
gutter should not be made very long since it
is directly connected to the roof. If the gut-
ters get filled with water, they may become 3. Close the edge
too heavy and damage the roof. A: Make an 80 mm cut at the end of the
(See this type of gutter on the photo at the gutter
end of this section) B: Fold the two edges over each other
C: Punch two holes with a nail and tie them
1. Cut strips together with a galvanized wire
D: If desired, cut the edges to make them
round
The first step is to cut the corrugated sheet 4. Closed edge with draining hole
into strips. A 120 cm sheet can be cut into A: Cut a strip in the middle of an edge to
ten 12 cm wide strips. Place your feet on make two lips
the boards or angle iron and pull the thread. B: Punch two holes
C: Tie the tongues together
5. Gutter support
12 - Water - Making Gutters 27
A: Cut a strip from the 1 mm metal sheet E: The last bend gives the height of the
B: Fold it, leaving one side longer than the support. Different heights give the desired
other. This way, it is easier to cut a recess inclination to the gutter.
to support the gutter. F: Place the hook on the roof. Use the hook
as a jig to punch holes. Support the roofing
sheet with a piece of wood while punching.
Tie the support. Place the gutter on the
hook. Bend the recess piece that holds the
gutter in place.
6. Receptacle
A: Cut a piece of the galvanized metal sheet.
Straighten it using the gutter bender.
C: Bend the hook. Punch holes with a heavy
nail. Use a heavy piece of steel with a 10 mm
(approximately) hole. Place the gutter sup-
port on the steel piece in a way that allows
you to punch a hole with a nail trough the
gutter support and the steel piece.
D: Curve the gutter seat. Cut a recess to
hold the gutter in place.
28 40 Green World Actions
B: Bend the two short sides over each oth-
er. Punch holes over a piece of wood. Tie
the receptacle with galvanized iron wire.
C: Cut a 40 mm strip from the 1 mm metal
sheet and fold it to make the support.
D: Cut a recess on the roof to make room
for the support. Mount the support on the
roof and secure it to the board.
E: Tie the pipe to the receptacle and the
support.
Text and photos kindly provided by
Henk Holtslag,
[email protected] Tank for
storing
water for
irrigation
A complete system to
collect rainwater with
the gutter fixed directly
to the roofing sheets
