Young Rainwater Harvesters

One of the IRHA’s missions is to sensitize the younger generation to the importance of rainwater. It is essential to increase their awareness on the water cycle and to the fact that it is not an unlimited resource that comes from taps. The more children know about water conservation, the more efficiently water will be managed in the future. The objective is to increase their understanding of the role that rainwater can play and how it can be used to preserve groundwater resources. This is achieved by showing them what can be done with rainwater and how difficulties are being met in other parts of the world.
The first Geneva Rainwater Harvesting Meeting took place in 2009 with a French school from Clermont Ferrand. The school was invited to Geneva to learn more about rainwater harvesting, as they wanted to install such a system in their building. It is always a pleasure to see how children are implicated in environmental protection and how they want to learn more on sustainable techniques. It is our role to share our knowledge with them, so an emphasis will still be put on this activity in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raindrops Awards

“Raindrops Awards” is an artistic competition organised by the IRHA to promote Rainwater Harvesting and sensitize the public on the importance of this topic. Participants from all over the world send in their entries, and after a vote by the jury, three prizes are given. The first competition, organised in 2007, awarded the poster that best illustrated the positive aspect of Rainwater Harvesting, and the last one, held in 2009, the best short film. The next competition will, like the first one, be for posters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capacity Building

As we have seen above, the IRHA aims to share its knowledge with the younger generation and the general public, but also with professionals, NGO leaders, authorities, etc. The objective is to train people on Rainwater Harvesting techniques, allowing them to use these simple and low cost means to provide a water supply in their regions. They will then see how useful rainwater can be, especially in countries with marked dry and wet seasons. Once they know more about the technical aspects, they can put into practice what they have learnt and be able to train or inform other people. The goal is to increase the global number of rainwater harvesters and to bring solutions to water shortages in the field.