The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has embarked on an initiative to promote the use of RWH. It has implemented projects in Asia, Africa and the Pacific SIDS. UNEP has also facilitated the formation of  the Rainwater Partnership. The Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI) has partnered with UNEP has extended the initiative to the Caribbean to promote the RWH in Grenada using the lessons learnt from other areas especially from the Pacific SIDS.

 

Grenada, has very recently suffered the devastating effects of Hurricane Ivan with the resulting  negative impact on water availability and quality as well as sanitation.  It is also representative of a typical Caribbean volcanic small island, subject to natural disasters and with limited human and financial resources.   Grenada will be used as a model to show how, after disasters, rainwater harvesting and appropriate sanitation can be used to augment water supply and to meet the sanitation needs. The intervention will include a strong component of capacity building in needs assessment, technical and socio-economic aspects of rainwater harvesting and sanitation.

 

The Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI) will undertake the following activities:

 

· Conduct a needs assessment on RWH in Grenada.  This includes providing a base line of water quantity, reviewing existing national policies and plans, assessing the use of rainwater harvesting, reviewing the human resources capacity, reviewing institutional capacity etc.

· Conduct district workshops to initiate dialogue with the communities and local authorities; identify the needs of the communities in RWH and sanitation; build consensus on what needs to be done and provide them with technical and socio economic aspects of water supply and sanitation technologies

· Prepare a rainwater harvesting programme for Grenada based on the needs identified using knowledge acquired at the regional training workshop

· Develop a country driven awareness raising programme which include posters, brochures, and a TV/radio programme to promote rainwater harvesting and appropriate sanitation

· Develop GIS maps indicating potential rainwater harvesting areas in Grenada.

· Conduct a regional training workshop

· Develop a costed programme for utilizing rainwater in the Caribbean region.

· Document lessons learnt in the process of developing the Grenada and Caribbean region RWH programme