Twitanthropy

$1,500 pays for installation of a rainwater catchment sysem for a health clinic or a school in Central America.  The typical target project is located in a rural area of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, or Panama.

The project utilizes simple technology to capture rainwater that comes off the roof of a community facility, and channel it into a vessel, to be stored for drinking and other uses.  Water runs off of the typical tin roof, and instead of falling to the ground, is diverted by a system of rain gutters.   The gutters may be covered to prevent the entry of leaves and other debris, and there may be an additional screen near the tank which is kept clean manually.  The water from the gutters is aggregated in a downspout and collected in a tank or other type of vessel.

Rainwater catchment may be considered as a subcategory of rainwater harvesting, which also incorporates additional means for capturing and storing water. 

During a typical wet season, the rainwater catchment system may serve to collect all of the water needed for the facility.  During the dry season, the facility often must look for other means to obtain needed water.

This project is a natural antecedent or follow-up to the typical School Water Tank Project, mentioned elsewhere on this site.  Water collected by the rainwater catchment system is stored in a sanitary tank for later use.

There are many improvements that can be added to this project to make it more useful.  If water is saved for a considerable amount of time, it must be filtered and otherwise purified if it is to be safe for drinking.  If more than one barrel is needed, a set of valves must be installed to switch the water flow to the empty barrel.

Care must be taken to ensure that the water collected can be used with a minimal amount of treatment.  A useful addition is a simple device that uses a float valve in the collection line to send the first rain out onto the ground.  Only then, when the roof surface is cleaned of pollutants and debris, is the water channeled into the drinking water supply.

It is important that rain gutters of the appopriate materials and quality are used, in order to maintain functionality for many years to come.

The installation of the gutters and piping is easily done by the community members.  Thus, donations go direclty toward materials, and not for labor or overhead. 

Once the efficacy of such a system is seen by the townspeople, the process may be replicated for other community buildings and for family homes.

Please use Twitpay, @twitpay, http://twitpay.me, powered by PayPal, by tweeting the following from your Twitter account:

@twitanthropy twitpay $10.00 for rainwater catchment

$500 pays for the purchase and installation of a water tank in a school in rural Guatemala.  The work is done by the community members, who take delivery of the fabricated tank, construct an elevated stand, and install the necessary piping and faucets.  The project is rounded out by a construction of a concrete pad and a drain for water runoff.

Many of the rural schools do not have an adequate water supply.  Some schools have no water at all.  Others have water only a few hours a day, sometimes at very low pressure, often at night.

A typical school may have 65 students attending.  Each child is forced to walk to school, sometimes from miles away, carrying a 2-liter plastic bottle of water, along with books and school gear.  Sometimes water is brought from home, and often it is collected from a stream or public faucet along the way. 

Many times the school is a one-room schoolhouse, with a dormitory for the teacher attached.  The worry over water greatly distracts the teaching process.

The water is used at the school for drinking, cooking mid-morning snacks, cooking lunch, flushing the toilets, and cleaning and mopping the schoolroom, dormitory, and patio.

This project is accompished quickly, with immediate tangible and visible results in the improvement of the health of the students and the environment for teaching.  It is replicated easily, and can be a precursor for further development, such as a rainwater catchment system.

Please use Twitpay, @twitpay, http://twitpay.me, powered by PayPal, by tweeting the following from your Twitter account:

@twitanthropy twitpay $5.00 for water tank

$110 buys the materials for one latrine, built at the home of a family that previously had no sanitation facilities.  The work is done in rural Guatemala or Honduras.  The work is done by the family members and other community members, who also contribute some of the local materials. 

 Your entire donation is spent on building materials, which would otherwise be out of the reach of the people, and none of it is spent on administration or labor.

Inadequate sanitation pollutes the water and makes it unsafe for drinking.  Diarrhea, caused by contaminated water and improper hygiene, is a major cause of illness and death. 

 The latrine consists of a pit in the ground 5 meters deep and 85 cm in diameter, a 1 square meter cement floor with a cement seat, cinderblock walls, a laminated roof, and a PVC tube that serves as a vent in order to get rid of bad odors.

 Your donation buys more than just a concrete latrine.  It instills community pride and cooperation, and forms the basis for a lifetime changes in hygiene and health.  Individuals learn valuable construction skills that they can teach to others and develop into a sustainable business.

Please use Twitpay, @twitpay, http://twitpay.me, powered by PayPal, by tweeting the following from your Twitter account:

@twitanthropy twitpay $2.00 for latrine

$37 buys one Ecofiltro, installed in a home of a needy recipient, in rural or urban Guatemala.  The Ecofiltro is made of local clay and sawdust in a small factory in Antigua.  After several days of drying and a special burning process in a handmade oven, it is then impregnated with colloidal silver, a natural antibacterial. 

The Ecofiltro it is a cost-effective way to provide an ecological alternative to boiling or chlorinating water.  It provides the following benefits:

• Provides 22 gallons of drinking water a week, enough for a family of 5 or 6.
• Ensures significant savings over purchasing bottled water.
• Allows water to be used from any source, including contaminated rivers and lakes.
• Meets the standards set up by the World Health Organization.
• Assures acceptance among users as it is odorless and colorless.
• Significantly reduces illness among family members, reducing health costs and work and school absenteeism.
• Includes Ecofiltro’s training program in health and hygiene, making its use much more effective.

Please use Twitpay, @twitpay, http://twitpay.me, powered by PayPal, by tweeting the following from your Twitter account:

@twitanthropy twitpay $1.00 for Ecofiltro