A year ago, we took some big steps toward meaningful change for millions of people in the Central African city of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. We re-imagined the simple concept of rainwater harvesting to help address catastrophic flooding while providing an opportunity for a domestic at-home water supply and all the economic and social possibilities that come with it.
This year is about scaling our work with a sustainable and consistent approach that will allow for exponential impact in the coming years. As it has been from the beginning, our commitment is to the families and communities in need of fresh water and to those living with the threat of losing their home every time it rains. And we’re on the right track!
Olga, Rosette, Eric & Desiré - CEEDD Partners
The Challenge
In Central Africa, cities are simultaneously suffering from limited water supplies and unimaginable urban flooding and erosion from monsoon rains that fall between September and May each year. Combine sandy soils with explosive population growth in cities lacking drainage systems, add climate change’s multiplier on monsoon rainfall intensities, and you have a recipe for flooding that is washing away the very ground these cities are built upon. Ironically, while water is everywhere during these storms, few homes have running water to cook, clean, and bathe. Water must be collected and transported from community wells or purchased for delivery multiple times per week.
Communities are devastated when the roads wash away
What Happens in the Next Decade Truly Matters
The effects of climate change and rapid population growth are happening now in equatorial Africa. Our nonprofit organization was launched with the goal of engaging with communities to harness available resources to build resilience. To this end, Terra Firma has engineered water collection systems to simply and affordably capture and store rainwater from corrugated metal roofs – the roofing material for millions of homes in these cities. Captured in a modest-sized storage tank, rainwater from a typical home can provide a domestic water source for up to 9 months of the year. Such a convenient source of domestic water changes lives by saving time, saving money, and providing economic opportunities.
Installation of Terra Firma roof clips and gutters to catch rainfall.
Our water supply solutions that tackle both the humanitarian and
climate challenges these communities face, addressing the issue of
too much and too little water while simultaneously removing the
driving force of flooding and erosion.
A new water storage tank in Kinshasa
Our Success
Terra Firma Rainwater Collective is a volunteer-run effort working closely with our on-the-ground nonprofit partner (CEEDD) in Kinshasa. Two amazing women on our Kinshasa team are dedicated to coordinating neighborhood site selection, materials delivery, volunteer labor, and final construction.
Since our initial launch last year, we’ve built 25 sites in strategic locations that have allowed us to fine tune our approaches to community engagement, design, and construction. Among these high profile sites are churches and schools, where we transformed very large roofs (major sources of flood water) to community assets of stored water. These demonstration sites were selected by the community and built with neighborhood volunteers and families who are now experiencing the benefits of rainwater collection. From the installation of catchment systems to workshops in urban permaculture and composting, community members, leaders, and local businesses across these neighborhoods are seeing opportunities for improved quality of life, economic advancement, and reduced runoff.
Community members build a ferrocement storage tank
We have hit bumps and adjusted to reroutes along the way, but we have learned more than we could have imagined one year ago. Most importantly, we can see the difference we are making in people’s lives.
2023 and Beyond - Our Future
In 2023, the goal of our expanded phase is to complete 100 installations before the monsoons end in June. We are scaling at just the right pace and these installations are critical to perfecting our processes and amplifying our impact on the ground. While 3-D printing our roof clips is effective in this prototype phase, mass production with an injection mold will be key to scaling our efforts over the next couple of years. With each system installed, we are one step closer to shifting community values about rainwater collection systems until these systems are considered to be an integral component of any roof. We firmly believe that the best way to treat the next gulley is to prevent it from forming in the first place.
We will continue to elevate concerns about groundwater pollution from the practice of filling eroding gullies with domestic and industrial garbage. There are currently over 570 of these impromptu landfills in Kinshasa alone. We are working with the University of Kinshasa to evaluate the long-term impacts to drinking water supplies from this short-term solution.
Terra Firma Rainwater Collective will also be leveraging the networks we connected with after winning the UNOPS Global Innovation Challenge, a United Nations program to mentor social impact startups. Of the 20 winners world-wide, we were the only nonprofit organization selected. We are using these opportunities to investigate other “for-profit” organizations and cultivate future partnerships to expand our business model. We look forward to 2023 to see how these relationships will develop and unfold.
We need you!
In an era of climate uncertainty, it’s hard to know how to make a real difference or how our individual and seemingly small efforts amount to real, meaningful change in the world, especially in developing countries where resources are scarce. Terra Firma Rainwater Collective is making a measurable difference in the present lives and future opportunities of many, and with your help, the impact will continue growing.
The cost of a complete rainwater catchment system at a typical home in Kinshasa averages $900. If we join our resources, our collective offering is immense. Please consider supporting this important work of transforming rainwater into opportunity, one roof at a time.
Mark, Erica, Roger & Mary
Terra Firma Rainwater Collective
1363 Rock Court
Carbondale, CO 81623
PS: If you have questions or would like more information, please ask. We are thrilled with our progress, believe in our mission, and are happy to talk and tell you more!
Collecting water from a Terra Firma sponsored community storage tank
