9th
International Rainwater Catchment Systems Conference
"Rainwater
Catchment: An Answer to the Water Scarcity of the Next Millennium."
Petrolina, Brazil - July 1999
Section 4: Technology of Rainwater Catchment Systems
Paper 4.5
Rain Collection as Water Source For Small Rural
Communities in Chiapas, Mexico:
(A case
study: technical and social aspects for transferring of rural technology in
Mexico)
Martín Mundo-Molina, Polioptro Martínez
Austria, Romeo Ballinas Avendaño, Miguel Raúl Ponce & Edgar Rafael Penagos
Mexican Institute of Water Technology (IMTA), Mexico
E-mail: mmundo@tlaloc.imta.mx
Abstract
In Mexico there are many small rural communities with
serious water supply deficiencies. The introduction of alternative, low-cost
technologies represents means of supplying water such as through fog and rain
catchment. In the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico, research is under way
on rain water collection for human consumption. This research can then be
applied in communities in the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Veracruz,
Puebla and throughout Baja California. In Chiapas, there are 19,972 poor rural
communities, 15,712 of which have fewer than 100 inhabitants. The lack of a
constant water supply is most severe in the highlands of Chiapas where the population
is made up mainly of indigenous groups. The communities are on mountainous
terrain with a widely dispersed population. These characteristics combine to
make the provision of public utilities, such as water, electricity and
sewerage, difficult with conventional means.
The combination of potability and low cost makes rain
collection a viable alternative for rural areas, weather permitting. The
Mexican Institute of Water Technology and Chiapas University constructed a rain
water collector (RWC) in Yalentay Chiapas. The rain water collector constructed
in Yalentay consists of four parts: 1. Roof of aluminum, for collecting rain
water, 2. Underground-cistern, divided in two tanks, 3. Filters, to improve the
water quality and 4. Regulator tank.
PDF of full document available
to members (4pp, 60kb)
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