Interlinked tanks and a pipe leading to a third tank | Photos by the writer
Interlinked tanks and a pipe leading to a third tank | Photos by the writer

Unrestricted amounts of water at the turn of a tap is something largely taken for granted by the shrinking percentage of the population that has water — or who can afford to pay extortionate fees for tanker water of dubious quality. But, unless its monsoon season, it’s a luxury for the rest of the population, who eke it out on a day-to-day basis when they can get it.

According to a recent report, half of our population can now only afford to eat one meal a day and the number of children suffering from malnutrition increases all the time. These stark realities give me a major headache when offering gardening advice as, unless practising xeriscape gardening (dry gardening), growing anything at all consumes massive quantities of precious water when looked at over an annual period of time. This is why, whenever the opportunity arises in this column, producing food is now given precedence over purely ornamental plants.

Water-saving gardening methods are, of course, promoted whenever possible, as is the relatively simple recycling of grey water/household water. But, quite possibly, rainwater harvesting, mist/dew/humidity harvesting, have not been given the serious attention they deserve, so let’s try to correct this.

Harvesting rainwater is essential in this water-scarce era

Rainwater harvesting is incredibly simple and, depending on how you go about it, is as low- or high-cost as you wish it to be. A bucket placed to collect drips from roofs is the simplest example and an entire roof edge gutter system, with its interlinked downpipes and a network of above or below ground storage tanks is at the opposite end of the price spectrum. All things considered, it seems rather unfair as only a tiny segment of the population — who can already afford to buy and use copious amounts of water — can, ironically, invest enough capital to benefit from the latter … although, as always, there are exceptions, as necessity is the mother of invention.

When faced with a sudden water problem — the house spring, on which we depended in Bhurban, vanished in the massive earthquake of October 2005 — and with very little extra cash on hand, a solution had to be found fast. The small house already had rainwater collection guttering across the front section, with a downpipe draining into a large barrel. The water thus harvested was used to irrigate plant pots only in the front garden. It was time to rethink and redesign this system, massively expanding it in the process.

The first step was to have guttering made for the rest of the house roof. The work was done by a local blacksmith on an urgent basis. Luckily, he quite enjoyed the challenge of first making the guttering, and thenfixing it firmly in place with downpipes, initially leading into large drums, at various places. Filters made out of scrunched wire netting (the size of tennis balls) then inserted into nylon stockings, were placed at the top of each downpipe and cleaned regularly. These were surprisingly efficient.

This interlinked water tank blends in well
This interlinked water tank blends in well

With strict rationing in place, this system provided just enough water to manage until the next step was achieved: the on-site making/welding together of the first system, interlinked so that the higher one overflowed into the adjacent lower one, and two 1,000 litre storage tanks on purpose-made metal stands. Each tank had a top hatch covered with a quadruple frame of the finest, strongest metal mosquito window mesh available to act as additional filters.

These two tanks were fed into the house water system and were eventually followed by a third tank. Then, over a three-year period, six more tanks, of the same size and all interlinked, were strategically placed on different levels of the terraced gardens and guttering was extended to the storage shed roof too. Painted green, they were not an eyesore but blended nicely into the orchard/forest garden setting and were essential to life and gardening, in a place where mains water was unavailable and, for many years, only accessible on foot.

Replicating such a system, upgrading it with purpose-made water tanks that are now available in the market, and adapting it to your own needs and surroundings is not a difficult prospect. If done over an extended period of time, using recycled materials whenever possible, it is a very viable proposition, even in areas of the country which receive far less rainfall than Bhurban.

For example, in Karachi, during the dry parts of the year, a surprising amount of water can be harvested from mist/dew/humidity by angling firmly fixed (this is essential) lengths of waterproof canvas/sail cloth, so that overnight moisture collected on it drips into the storage tank via an on-top filter. Instead of canvas/sailcloth, something like a recycled dish antenna of a reasonable size, with a hole in the centre, firmly fixed so that it drains into the top of the tank, can also be used to good effect.

Scratch your head, rattle your brains and improvise. Every single drop of water is increasingly precious.

Please continue sending your gardening queries to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. Remember to include your location. The writer does not respond directly by email. Emails with attachments will not be opened. Commercial enquiries will be ignored.

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 18th, 2019

Opinion

Editorial

‘Source of terror’
29 Mar, 2024

‘Source of terror’

ALTHOUGH dealing with the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan is a major political, security and strategic...
Chipping in
29 Mar, 2024

Chipping in

FEDERAL infrastructure development schemes are located in the provinces. Most such projects — for instance,...
Toxic emitters
29 Mar, 2024

Toxic emitters

IT is concerning to note that dozens of industries have been violating environmental laws in and around Islamabad....
Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...