RAINWATER HARVESTING FROM ROOFTOPS USING
FERRO CEMENT
INTRODUCTION
The recently instituted collaboration between Practical Action (formerly ITDG) and The Federation of
Chambers of Construction Industry Sri Lanka (FCCISL) is prompted by the urgent need for skilled
tradespersons in construction related activities. Presently there is an urgent need for providing permanent
shelters for thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) due to civil conflict and natural disasters.
Apart from this immediate need, it is also imperative that occupants of houses that will be built must be
provided with safe and adequate drinking water. All human settlement sites that have been chosen may not
have sustainable natural sources of potable water for domestic use. For this reason, the construction of
rainwater harvesting tanks has been considered important because areas with limited rainfall may not have
the natural resource capacity to provide the water needs of communities throughout each year.
BACKGROUND
The Federation of Chambers of Construction Industries Sri Lanka FCCISL) is Sri Lanka's apex body of
currently Fifty Five (55) private sector chambers and associations of commerce and industry including
National Construction Association of Sri Lanka (NACSL), and is affiliated with Handwerksammer (HwK)
Koblenz, Germany, a German chamber for skilled crafts representing more than eighteen thousand
companies that has oversight of vocational training of more than ten thousand persons per annum.
Presently a well equipped handwerk centre for vocational training has been operational in Kalutara and
another vocational training centre has been initiated in Thrukkovil in the eastern province to serve the
technology needs of the eastern province.
Practical action South Asia has over 20 years of experience throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America in
the development of different types of cost effective and disaster mitigating, environmentally sensitive
housing technologies including research and development on building materials. Practical Action's
integrated housing services (IHS) project work includes dissemination of knowledge and sharing of
expertise gathered over the years in Sri Lanka especially in post-tsunami reconstruction, as well as
internationally through its partners & regional offices, to facilitate the process of disaster sensitive, cost
effective, and holistic housing in order to provide solutions to the basic needs of communities through
integrated housing construction programs.
Each of the above organizations has chosen to collaborate with the common aim of building the capacity of
construction related tradespersons in quality construction methods and appropriate technologies relevant
to building sustainable human settlements. FCCISL provides the facilities for the proposed training and
Practical Action provides the technical information and training in this program. The reason for initiating a
Training of Trainers (TOT) program is because many more technical officers in the local district have to be
trained. Therefore, trainers must be adequately informed and equipped to build the capacity of trainees to
effectively train other potential trainers.
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