Scale up rainwater harvesting, Malawi told
International Rain water Harvesting Alliance President Han Heijnen has said Malawi stands to realise more benefits it could upscale rainwater harvesting efforts.
Heijnen was speaking at the end of an activity by Rainwater Harvesting Malawi.
According to Heijnen, harvesting more rainwater could help the country improve water availability for domestic and industrial use.
He added that, if adopted fully, rainwater harvesting could help Malawi grow crops more than once a year.
“You improve your water supply situation when you have rainwater collected closer to your home. So, it means that, people in rural areas may not have to cover long distances to get water. It means elderly people and people with disability have water readily available.
“It means children will not have to draw water from the borehole. It means more time for them to go to school,” Heijnen said.
Rain water Harvesting Malawi Director Macpherson Nthara hailed Heijnen for visiting Malawi.
Nthara said Malawi loses 19 billion cubic metres of water every year due to surface runoff.
According to Nthara, if the country properly managed to control surface runoff and rain water, the country could be able to meet most of its domestic water requirements.
“As a rainwater harvesting association, we have a target to have 5,000 carabash systerns in the next two years and we have just started.
“For this year, if we look at all the water harvesting structures that we have, the dams, the tanks and other structures, if we can manage to harvest at least one billion cubic metres, we will have achieved something,” Nthara said.
