This Handbook on rainwater harvesting in the Caribbean was developed under a Caribbean Environmental Health Institute and United Nations Environment Programme collaboration on promoting rainwater harvesting in the Caribbean.
The Handbook primarily details the application of domestic RWH systems with emphasis on aspects such as rooftop rainwater capture potential to storage capacity, determining storage capacity based on household size, and reducing contamination of stored water. The guidelines set out in the Handbook were derived from the wealth of resources on the subject from a variety of different websites. The primary reference in the preparation of this document was the guideline Harvesting the Heavens - Guidelines for Rainwater Harvesting in Pacific Island Countries (2004) that was compiled by the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in conjunction with the Tonga Community Development Trust (TCDT) and funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). The SOPAC publication is available on-line at
http://dev.sopac.org.fj/VirLib/JC0178.pdf
It is anticipated that the Handbook will be utilized by contractors, home-owners, commercial operators, and farmers as an easy guide in the installation and operation of RWH systems. Although the material presented in this Handbook is mainly based on single household applications, the concepts can be applied or scaled up to other applications in agricultural, commercial, industrial and municipal services sectors. Advice from professional engineers, contractors or water services specialists should be solicited when investing in RWH systems.
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