Building Ferro-Cement Rainwater Harvest Tanks as Vocational Training

Some of the twenty participants of a Rainwater Harvest Ferro-Cement Tank building workshop in Voinjama, Liberia, West Africa working with me on the steel framework
Sunday, November 23, 2008

Rainwater may be the only reliable and healthful source of water for most of us around the world as pollution, toxicity, disease, and its scarcity plague our water supplies not only in the "2/3rds world" but, increasingly in the ecologically impoverished industrial world.
I am here in Northern Liberia with good friend and Permaculture colleague, Paul Swenson, where we have just finished teaching a two-week intensive training for ex-combatants and war affected young and old from many of the local tribes. The people of this region have recently found peace after a brutal civil war that lasted for nearly 14 years and everyday gandhis, a peacebuilding organization, has once again graciously brought us here to weave permaculture within the fabric of their work. The training was intensive both physically and mentally as we made a 1,250 gallon ferro-cement rainwater harvest storage tank from design to a finished and functional tank.

Mixing cement plaster of one part cement to three parts sifted sand using gauge boxes, shovels and sweat Notice the trellis structure we installed on earlier trips to cool the house during the hot dry season

We also designed and built rainwater harvesting bio-
swales as part of a larger on-the-ground exercise in designing a two acre farm. We learned together how to work with water and understand its many uses and functions. We practically looked at how to slow water's traverse down the face of the landscape by spreading it widely through out the land and then sinking it into the ground using contour swales, mulch and appropriate plantings when the 100 plus inches of rain occur in the wet season to assuage the lack of water that follows in the dry season.

This is our hand-drawn Permaculture Design for the adjacent property to where we built the tank and is owned by the peacebuilding group everyday gandhis. It is a two acre property that will be a local demonstration site of Permaculture in action

During the wet season, Cholera is a life threatening reality that flows with the effluent that enters the water stream with daily downpours. Up until now, the United Nations has been putting millions of dollars into early warning and treatment of cholera and pittance toward rainwater harvest systems. It is ironical that when the cleanest water available to us is in abundance many die and suffer from lack of healthy drinking water. This design flaw is easily ameliorated by the sensible design of simple rainwater harvest systems coupled with compost toilet systems that turn waste into food....not into pollution.
This training gave nearly twenty people the opportunity to learn how to design, site and build a tank that could last up to fifty years in providing for their community's health, well being and stability.

Paul Swenson and Jolla working the rendering process on the inside of the tank

We ran out of time this trip to teach compost toilet building but are hopeful that we will return in the spring to teach another hands-on workshop on how to build a simple thermophyllic system to handle their toilet nutrients so they become useful in their soil building processe, rather than disease in their communities.
We hope our work with everyday gandhis, our sponsoring organization, will continue in providing Permaculturetraining for this region of the world as part of their overall peacebuilding strategy for the region. It is through their generosity and community connection that Permaculture has been able to set its roots in this remote community in Northern Liberia.

Putting on the render coat, Lassana Kamara was our quality control man for this process of the tank construction

Both Paul and I extend our gratitude to the people of Voinjama, Liberia for their incredible kindness, graciousness and willingness to embrace Permaculture while teaching us so much about culture and community. Water is life and we hope that our work in helping to store this precious resource in your community has honored your traditions and magnanimous hospitality. Thank you!
In Growing Peace,
Warren Brush
w@quailsprings.org