Managing Water for Climate Change Adaption

In one recent blog post I was addressing renewable energy systems in Nigeria as a driver for green growth. Today I want to look at the efficient management of natural assets, by exploring one particular sustainable water management strategy.

The African Development Bank has proposed 3 areas for green growth (AfDB 2012): 

’Every step we take towards managing water more effectively reduces riskand builds resilience in the face of climate change.’ – Ania Grobicki

Dr Ania Grobicki, Executive Secretary of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) argues that managing water for green growth is vital for supporting climate adaption and building climate resilience. In the future, adaptive water governance will be key to counter the impacts of climate change on water resources, including extreme weathers (resulting in floods, droughts or tropical cyclones) and overexploitation of groundwater (Increasing water scarcity due to absent rainfall can lead to non-renewable use of groundwater) (AfDB 2015). 

The AAA initiative has identified several priority areas for improved water management, including

1.      optimising existing structures and building new structural facilities for water mobilisation

2.      strengthen the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach

3.      promote more efficient and more productive water system

4.      irrigation development through capacity building                                     (AAA 2016, 17) 

In the following I will talk about a specific innovative small scale water management system, which fits in solution 1. and 3. listed above. It optimises existing structures for water mobilisation and creates an efficient water harvesting system. 

A small - scale rainwater harvesting system

In the face of decreasing food security as a result of instable weather patterns (more intense rainfalls, unpredictable, droughts) small scale rainwater harvesting systems have been an opportunity for communities to adapt to the climate-induced impacts on the hydrological cycle.

An interesting example of a small-scale rainwater harvesting system I want to feature here is a rural Waterbank school called ‘Uaso Nyiro’ in the central highlands of Kenya. Even though it is highly questionable whether this expensive design (construction costs: 36.000 $) has potential to become the ‘standard’  in Africa, it is nevertheless an innovative approach to climate resilient water management.

Designed by two British architects (Jane Harrison & David Turnbull ) and built in collaboration with a local NGO in 2013, the architecture of this primary school has allowed for the harvesting of 360.000 litres of rainwater over two rainy seasons: The cyclical roof catches the water, which is then purified by solar-powered pumps, tanks and filter banks and stored in the 150.000 litre reservoir underneath the central courtyard (Bullivant 2015). The stored water provides drinking water on demand for the 300 pupils of the primary school, as well as their teachers and the community (Bullivant 2015).

The architects of this project are now engaged in many similar pilot projects in South Africa, Ethiopia, Malawi and Burkina Faso. They also want to show that their ‘Waterbank architecture’ is applicable to rural as well as urban areas: At the moment they are designing a whole urban district for a new town in the Niger Delta, in which the Waterbank technology will be integrated (Bullivant 2015).

References: 


Adaption of African Agriculture Initiative (AAA), (2016). Addressing the Challenges of Climate Change and Food Insecurity. [online] Available at: http://www.aaainitiative.org/sites/aaainitiative.org/files/AAA_livre_blanc_ENG.pdf [Accessed 3 Nov. 2016].

  

AfDB 2015) Africa’s Climate Opportunity: Adapting and thriving – The African Development Bank at the UNFCCC COP21 Meeting 

  

(AfDB 2012) Facilitating Green Growth in Africa – Perspectives from the Africa Development Bank 


Bullivant, L. (2015). The rural Kenyan school that collects water for the community. The Guardian. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/may/06/the-rural-kenyan-school-that-collects-water-for-the-community [Accessed 6 Nov. 2016].