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Technologies that Have Helped Build a New Semiarid Region |
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The Semiarid Region is beautiful and builds up ones knowledge. A great part of this acquired knowledge comes through region co-existence based technologies, such as: Concrete slab cisterns, underground dams, stone tanks, that in the course of the last ten years - a period in which the perspective of a future and the exercise of citizenship within the Semiarid Region was never as evident have been refined and contribute to the improving of the lives of the country men and women in the Region. The work of Diaconia with regard to water security for the rural families coincides with the history of ASA/Brasil in disseminating the technologies for co-existing with semiarid conditions. Part of this history is recalled in this interview granted by Mr. Mario Farias, Diaconia Auxiliary Co-ordinator in the Pajeú/PE Brushland, to the radio broadcasting programme, A Voz do Semiarido, on Thursday 25th February last. Here is the interview.
The First Concrete Slab Cistern
I don’t know exactly the date when the first concrete slab cistern was build; however, I do know that it all began when a farmer, by the name of Nel, who had worked in the Southeast of Brazil building swimming pools, using the technology of concrete slabs, decided to build a tank to store rainwater, using a technique similar to that used in the construction of swimming pools. And that is how the first concrete slab cistern came into being, already with the circular format, a lid to avoid the water from evaporating. However the tank was only able to store up to 12,000 litres. It is important to point out that the concrete slab cistern arose from the creativity of a farmer, and not the result of any project on the part of a civil engineer or other professional in the field of engineering.
Dissemination of the Technology
"In the 90s, Diaconia underwent an organisational restructuring process in which the Integrated Development Programme was renamed the Family Agriculture Aid Programme, the first work of which was to minimise some of the problems caused by the great drought of 1998. At that time, we got to know about the existence of concrete slab cisterns through the non-government organisation, CAATINGA, which is still active in Araripe Brushland in Pernambuco. We held meetings there for the mutual exchange of experiences and on returning to the Pajeú Brushland, we ran a training course for the men and women farmers on how to construct the technology of co-existing with semiarid conditions. This work was integrated into the “Tive Sede” Project, which consisted in the distribution of food and building materials in exchange for manual labour in the construction of the concrete slab cisterns. In this way, we built about 200 cisterns in the regions of the Pajeú/PE Brushland and the Western Region of State of Rio Grande do Norte. With these technologies and with the arrival of the rains the following year (1999), the families were at last prepared to face the next drought period".
The Evolution of the Technology
“The cistern that we got to know in Ouricuri, in 1998, had the capacity for storing only 12,000 litres of water and did not have a strainer to perform an initial filtering of the water.
The cover was made of cement and weighed a lot making it difficult for anyone to remove it each time the family needed to take out some water. And that without mentioning that the cisterns did not have a pump installed, making it even more difficult for a person to take out water. With the conclusion of the Tive Sede Programme, Diaconia carried out a straw poll involving 70% of the families benefited with the technologies, so as to gauge the viability of the cisterns. The poll made it possible for the Organisation to identify problems such as dirt in the inside of the cisterns, empty cisterns before the end of the drought period, etc. With this information adaptations began to be made in the technology so as to guarantee better efficiency. On becoming aware that the roofs of the rural family houses in the Pajeú/PE Brushland and those in the Western Region of Rio Grande do Norte had on an average, 60m², we soon saw that they had the capacity to catch more water, even during a weak winter, that is, with an average rainfall of 350 mm per year; and hence we increased the capacity of the cistern to 16,000 litres. Other changes made in the technology were, the use of an iron cover, which we saw on the cistern of a farmer in the municipality of Quixaba, here in the Pajeú Brushland as well as a strainer for filtering the larger pieces of waste that come off the roof of the house. In all these changes, we have to tell of the courses held on Water Resource Management that provided an answer to the problem, also identified in the poll, of refining the managing of the cistern, i.e. the use of the technology. The training course dealt with the question of citizenship, the natural and cultural wealth of the Semiarid Region and furthermore relayed information on the correct use of the concrete slab cisterns".
The Second Water
"In the beginning, Diaconia was concerned about contributing to providing access to drinking water. Even so, we were always aware of the fact that in the Semiarid Region the families were in need of more water besides drinking water, with quality and differentiated ends - water for bodily hygiene, for domestic chores, washing clothes and water for irrigation purposes. Based on this reflection, Diaconia began to idealise other technologies that could contribute to getting access to other water that would be able to attend to the needs of the rural families in the Semiarid Region and some of the technologies were incorporated into the One Land and Two Waters Programme, (P1+2), carried out by ASA/Brasil. The aim of the Programme, already in its third phase, is to promote access to water for irrigation purposes. Firstly there was the demonstrative phase, then the pilot phase and now we are effectively carrying out the Programme. The technologies that are part of it are: i) the 52,000 Litre Cistern, a technology worked out by Diaconia, which serves especially for storing water for the irrigation of productive gardens; ii) the Popular Water Pump which had previously been disseminated through an independent programme and was recently incorporated into the P1+2; iii) the Underground Dam which is a millenary technology and iv) the Stone Tank".
The New Formation Processes
"The P1+2 has formation processes differentiated from those of the One Million Cistern Programme (OMCP). One of which I think is among the Best is the mutual exchange of experiences. But, there are also the Courses on Simplified Handling, geared particularly to those families who are to receive a Ground Run-off Cistern; and to the Management of Water for Food Production; training that involves the benefited families in all the technologies applied in the P1+2. Besides this, the Programme foresees mutual exchange sessions at municipal, territorial, state and interstate levels; training courses for the commissions and community conferences”.
The ASA/Brasil, the Technologies and the New Semiarid Region
”Without any doubt the coming of the ASA acted as benchmark in the history of the Semiarid Region, which now has another face, another reality since the joint endeavour programmes began to be implemented. Many of the negative effects brought about by human activity or by natural causes have been minimized by the works of the OMCP and the P1+2”.”
Expectations with Regard to the Future
”I want to see and I am already beginning to notice signs that it is happening, a semiarid region where agricultural families can live and live to the full. Contrary to what one still sees in the media, the Semiarid Region is beautiful, is viable and it is possible to make a living there. I have had the opportunity to get to know other places in the world and what I am saying is not the fruit of narrow-mindedness! Undoubtedly we are not going to see the Region green during the twelve months of the year, but, even when the vegetation is gray on the surface, we can be sure that its families will be living with abundance and satisfaction”.
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