Harvesting Water from Above
Building an underground water tank to harvest rainwater in Nzowve Parish,
Mbeya Tanzania
 Water can be gathered, or as some would say ‘harvested’, from below by digging
or drilling boreholes to pump it up. It can also be harvested from above in
those places where the groundwater would be too deep or maybe hardly existing.
Mbeya, in the East African country Tanzania is one of the many places where
one often collects it from above, by harvesting the rains of the rainy seasons.
When doing that, the rain can be stored in different ways.
Sometimes one does it in large 2000
gallons heavy metal or plastic tanks. In
other places one stores it underground in
large tanks. Both ways are costly, and
local communities often cannot afford the
costs.
That is why a local community in
Mbeya, the Nzovwe Parish, asked for our
support, assuring us that they would be
able to pay some of the cost, and also that
they would do together all the work they
could do.
 Their parish priest promised to send us
some pictures of the progress made. And
that is what he did, when we – with your
support – helped them in their project.
The pictures show the enormous
underground tank they walled in with
bricks made on the spot, the depth of the
underground water tank, the support
pillars in the tank and the reinforced
concrete top. They asked us to thank you
and they promised you their prayers!
On Water, 'Before' and 'After'
On helping to drill a 210 feet deep borehole in Sumbawanga, Tanzania
 It was the Superior of the Sisters of Our Lady Queen of
Africa (formerly known in this country as the ‘White Sisters’)
who wrote us about a village about 40 miles from the
city of Sumbawanga. The village, Chala, had a numerous
population, a Health Clinic run by the Sisters, with a maximum
of 40 admitted patients and many more non-residential
ones; a Folk Development College; a Primary School; a Secondary
School, and a Formation Center of the Sisters. Sister
Mariastella wrote us about their most serious problem: water. It had to be gathered in
small containers from outside, and it was often the cause of many infectious diseases.
The water scarcity did not only affect the people, but also
their gardening, their poultry and animals.
 They consulted a Water Supply expert. He advised
them that they would need to drill a borehole of 70 meters
(about 210 feet) to get to groundwater. They wrote us about
the costs of that enterprise. They were capable of paying
some of the costs, but not all of it. They asked us whether
we would be able to help them with US$ 9,850. With your
support we have been able to help this water project. The pictures show the ‘before’ that
support and the ‘after’!
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