Sabrina Faber

Sabrina Faber is a principal at Planetecóle, an organization focusing on sustainable development through education and training. An international education, development and training professional, Sabrina has extensive experience in the Middle East, and ten years experience working in Yemen.

• 19 Mar 2012

  Starting the Rainwater Aggregation Project in Yemen

  I am happy to report that we have started the Rainwater Aggregation (or RAINS) project in Sana’a earlier this year.

  It has been a difficult journey to reach this point but work has now finished on two sites, which brings the total number of sites in Sana’a to three when the pre-project pilot is included. These three sites are located in the Wahda district of Sana’a and a couple of neighbors have already expressed an interest in the project and asked whether they might qualify for a RAINS system themselves.

  Plans are now in progress for the next RAINS system in Sana’a’s historic Old City. While at this site we will initially be implementing one RAINS system, there is the possibility to attract neighborhood involvement and expand the system to provide water for one of the ancient, traditional gardens that are sprinkled throughout the Old City. As implemented here, the RAINS system may include an ambitious underground storage tank, as the project team attempts to develop systems to fit a variety of models and site requirements in Yemen.

  Several international donor agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), have already expressed interest in this project. A USAID-funded campaign, known as the Community Livelihoods Project, is planning to use the RAINS system in 25 primary schools and health clinics.

  As the winner of the Philips Livable Cities Award project, we are already gaining momentum and expanding beyond the original concept!

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• 01 Dec 2011

  Testing the RAINS prototype

  My name is Sabrina Faber and I am delighted to be the winner of the Philips Livable Cities Award 2010/2011.

  I am very excited to begin my project and over the last several months I have been testing the prototype for RAINS (Rainwater Aggregation in Sana’a). During the testing phase, in the space of less than 24 hours, we accumulated over 10,000 litres of rainwater for use ‎at an office building in Sana’a.

  The RAINS system is relatively simple: Ensure that the rainwater, which falls on the flat rooftops of ‎buildings in Sana’a flows into pipes that are attached to water storage tanks that exist at ground level (or in some cases underground), rather than just having ‎the water drain from rooftop drainage pipes onto the street below and evaporate. To make the water ‎potable it can be filtered. For other uses, including gardens, it can be pumped up to the rooftop storage tank or kept at a later date in ‎underground tanks (if these are available). At the current prices for a water truck (around YR 10,000 or ‎USD $40), each time the tanks are filled, that amount is saved.

  This system is a prototype still being assessed before the next rainy season. We are pleased with its ‎success, but it is likely that we would have collected even more water. This system does require ‎oversight in times of heavy rains. One Sunday morning we noticed that our water storage tanks were ‎full and, in fact, overflowing which allowed a lot of water to escape unused to the pavement. We used ‎a hose to drain the water from the upper tanks to an underground storage tank that we had with this prototype. The underground storage tank is also directly connected by ‎a water pump to our rooftop tank, but the hose had a kink in it, causing water to back up and overflow ‎once the above-ground tanks were filled. Once the kink was sorted out, it took another twenty-four ‎hours to empty the 10,000 liters and fill up the underground water tank and the rains were still falling ‎in Sana’a.

  Imagine if every building and every house in Sana’a were doing the same! ‎

  So what’s next for the project? My team will continue to develop the prototype and we hope to have installed the first water storage tank at the beginning of next year. Watch this space!

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