Nigerians collecting rainwater

[pscot]

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/community-news/24948-mubi-residents-conserve-rain-water-for-drinking

Residents of Mubi in Adamawa State are utilising rain water for drinking and other domestic purposes due to acute water scarcity in the area. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the communities, which hitherto, relied on unwholesome water from the river and open wells had found succour with the coming of the rain. The water scarcity was precipitated following the collapsed of the water treatment plant in the area in the last five years. NAN checks showed that the water from the river was not safe for consumption during rainy season as it was often contaminated with agricultural chemicals.

.......

Malam Adamu Inuwa, a resident, said he now relied on rain water for his domestic needs. “I am collecting rain water for drinking. It has good taste and enable me save more. Before the rain, we relied on water vendors despite its impurity. The water must be boiled and purified to make it safe for consumption. The water from vendors is not good for consumption during rainy season because it is contaminated with agro-chemicals ,” Inuwa said.

NAN checked further showed that water hawkers, locally called “Mai-Moya” were not recording good sales since the commencement of the rain. A 20 litre jerry can of water was sold for N10 as against its previous price of N20, during dry season. Malam Bukar Kaka, a water vendor, said he hardly earned N200 as against N1, 000 per day before the rain. Kaka, who described the market condition as ‘discouraging’, added that he used filters to purify the water before selling it to prospective buyers.

[Taverner]

1. When I was in Peace Corps, one of the more sucessful DIY projects was filter and boil kits

I don't know if that's what they're really called, but spreading these kits for people to filter the dirtiest rivers and get drinkable water out of them

They need these things

[pscot]

3. They can't filter ag chemicals can they?

I would guess some of those are pesticieds and fungicides.

[Taverner]

5. These filters would filter a lot of toxins out

Not all toxins - and with GMOs it made it even harder to filter...

But the more toxins, longer it would take

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. I hope that help will get to Nigeria

[Ragnarok]

4. I do the same thing

A cistern is a great investment of time and labor. Just don't tell "the man". Just make sure you use a Berkey Black filter if you collect roof water - lots of bird poop and other nasties up there.