Fourth Year Major Project Process: Testing and Prototyping Collapsible Tanks

Context

Longido, Tanzania suffers from chronic water shortages which lead to a variety of related problems including poor health and sanitation. Collection of water in Longido is an inefficient process, with negative impacts affecting mainly women and children. Women and girls spend a large portion of the day collecting water from a town reservoir, waiting in line for several hours, or walking up to 10 kilometers to gather water from the fresh water springs on Mount Longido. When it rains, people put out buckets to collect the rain, but most of the water goes uncollected and is washed away in seasonal rivers, sometimes leading to flooding.

Problem Statement

There is a critical need in the community for solutions related to water collection and storage. Solutions must be financially viable and technologically appropriate. The solutions should reduce the effort people must make to collect water and provide better long term storage.

Direction

The project direction has gone through many changes. Very early research focused on agriculture and related issues. After examining the root issues associated with farming in Longido, water was identified as a main problem.

This led the research towards rain water collection, specifically in the form of eaves troughs. After visiting Longido, however, it was found that there were very few solutions in place to support the storage of rain water. Making note of this, the direction of the project now focuses on water storage for domestic use.

Presentation: Concept Development

My final major project at Carleton University centers around solving water shortage issues in Longido, Tanzania. Longido suffers from chronic water shortages which lead to a variety of related problems. Poor health and sanitation are the result of a lack of access to clean water. Collection of water in Longido is an inefficient process, with negative impacts affecting mainly women and children. Women and girls spend a large portion of the day collecting water from a town reservoir, waiting in line for several hours, or walking up to 10 kilometers to gather water from the fresh water springs (known as oceans) on Mount Longido. When it rains, people put out buckets to collect the rain, but most of the water goes uncollected and is washed away in seasonal rivers, sometimes leading to flooding.

Much of my initial research focused on agriculture and related issues. The main issues to be solved
were protection of the plants from wildlife, insects, and goats, along with increased water collection for agriculture projects. There have been successful agriculture projects from Testigo Africa, and it was decided early on that rather than create new agricultural methods, the project should build
on the successes that Testigo has already had in Longido. Eventually I moved towards rain water collection; the lack of water is the main problem hindering agriculture and leading to a variety of other issues, it should be made a priority. My main focus is now eaves troughs and storage tanks for developing areas such as Longido.