Gutter Project

Last summer my village and I started a project in which we provided households with gutters designed to catch water.  When I first started to talk about the gutters, many of my neighbors mentioned that they were familiar with the concept because catching water on your roof is a common practice in Cote d'Ivoire. 

The gutters were made locally with readily available materials and can catch over 200 liters of water in a short but hard rainfall (~15 minutes).  This water should be treated before drinking, but can also be used for a variety of household tasks such cooking, cleaning, watering animals, etc.  Obviously the gutters are only useful for a part of the year, but the rainy season also happens to be the busiest months when chores such as fetching water come second to farming activities. 

Here are the steps for the project:

1. Conduct a survey of all the courtyards where the gutters will go.  Explain the project, ask about the family's willingness/ability to provide a barrel (for their own use), and take measurements of whichever house the gutter will go on.  The perfect house for a gutter has a slanted metal roof, preferably with the down slant being on the inside of the courtyard (so it is not necessary to run outside in the rain to place the barrel to catch water).  It is also preferable to have a roof that was installed with cement rather than mud because the mud makes the water dirtier. 

2. The next step is to contract a metal worker and a carpenter to make the actual gutters and the wooden  attachments.  The metal worker (not a welder) should buy used or new roofing, remove the corrugation, cut it in half, and shape the pieces into a gutter shape.  Roofing comes in 2 meters lengths, so 1 piece of roofing is enough for 4 meters of gutter.  The carpenter should be given a drawing with exact measurements for the attachments. 

3. Buy the remaining materials which are large nails and wire (also a hammer and a ladder if you don't have them).

4. To install the gutters the wooden attachments should be nailed to the house and the pieces of gutter fit snugly into the attachments.  The number of attachments depends on the length of the house, but in general there should be one at each end and at each place the pieces of gutter overlap.  For example, if the house is 6 meters long, there are 3 gutters pieces and 4 wooden attachments.  The gutter needs to be at a fairly steep angle for the water to flow quickly.  It works well if the attachments are lowered 10-15 centimeters every 2 meters.  So if the first attachment is nailed in 5 cms below the roof, the second should go 20 cms below the roof and the third 35cm, etc. 

5. After the gutter is installed, throw a bucket of water on the roof to make sure it works correctly.  Then secure the gutter to each attachment with a length of wire.

6. When it starts to rain, wait a minute or two to let the dirt from the roof wash away and then place the barrel in the stream from the gutter!

Note: I funded my project with a Water and Sanitation Spa Grant. I still have my budget if anyone would like to look at it.  I built 15 gutters with roughly 90,000 cfa.

Gutter Piece

Wooden Attachment