Sustainable architecture can combat rainwater destruction within built environment.

From an African ritual point of view, rainfall is termed as a part of the way nature shows its blessings towards the living who dwell in this planet. Actually if we will be taking a view from the faith perspective, rainfall no matter where on earth when it pours down on us it presents a sign of glory and harmony.

 Basically rainfall can be termed as the liquid water in the form of droplets that have condensed from atmosphere water vapor and then precipitated, in other words it became ready to fall down. It all begins when the sun heats the earth’s surface and water bodies. Then water in form of vapor leaves the soil, plants and water bodies surface such as oceans, rivers and lakes ascends to the atmosphere, cools when heated enough water falls down as water droplets .

Tanzania has tropical climate which is associated with seasonal rainfall, by which we two main rainfall regimes; one is termed as Uni-modal which has long rainfall locally known as masika ranging from march, April and may,Where by records show much millimeter accounted on rain gauges.

 On the other hand the Bi-Modal which is the short rains season beginning from November to December. The amount of rain in these seasons falls on 50-200mm per month but variation is also accounted greatly thus 300mm can be recorded in wet regions.

When rainfall turns into a disaster limiting economic activities it is a clear sign that we should be investing fully in our infrasturctures; from the environmental point of view rainfall turns into disaster when all things that propel better living conditions are not well managed such as Roads, housing, drainage layouts and land use management. Basically we are responsible on a major scale in causing disaster when rainfall occurs, and it is not entirely natures fault.

Now the country experiences long rains, as we are in the Long rain month. I had an opportunity to experience how rain fall obstructs daily economic activities when it rains for 20 to 30 minutes in Dar es salaam city , water flooding the streets with inadequate and inefficient drainage systems .

Apparently most of Major cities in Tanzania Main and feeders Roads being impassible after rainfall, because un attended ditches have enlarged and become swamps in the middle of a road, evidently I have observed some feeders roads in  Dar es salaam the Business capital city kimara, Tegeta, and Ubungo eroded beyond users control .

 In mwanza in 2015  particularly areas of mabatini, kilimahewa and nyamanoro, some parts of  sumbawanga, Rukwa and some parts of morogoro have been suffering from flooding, turning people homeless, some losing their loved ones. Such worse situations resulted by rainfall are not new to us, they have been happening yearly, unfortunately we have been too busy or occupied to find solutions in order to eliminate rain water blocking our roads. Where by the major culprit of such havoc is  the unattended inefficient infrastructures which  currently are not Constructed sustainably.

Evidently Mwanza suffers extremely when rainfall exceeds the city capacity to withhold the running water, thus I  have bear witness how the roads drainage layouts fail to handle the running water, similarly within streets locally dug drainage systems don’t fathom rain water moving with extreme power.

When rain stops and only for some hours extreme damage is done to the infrastructure , roads are eroded, locally dug  drainage systems turn to ditches, pot holes turn into ponds in the middle of  roads blocking movement of people and cars restricting economical activities to go on.

Honestly we cannot blame the rain for the trouble it brings to our Built environment but shift the blame to our architectural design, which fails to deliver when ever nature acts upon us.  Our roads are constructed with no strong drainage systems and adequate to handle all things that might happen to road users ,however a good number Major cities Roads are not renovated just last few weeks a junction opposite to Mwenge was filled with water limiting pedestrians to cross over, not only people suffered but drivers who had lower cars had to be extra careful to evade water infiltrating in the engine.

Basically we need to have a major consideration on adopting sustainable architecture so that we may live safe and without worry when clouds gather together in the sky to rain upon us. Sustainable architecture is a technology which seeks to minimize environmental impacts such as heavy rains resulting into flooding, on our buildings by employing better use of energy, materials and development space. This idea was rasied by an architect named  A.Trivelli in 1998. Despite the fact that many years has passed since the genesis of this marvelous technology , we can do something today to ensure that our future generation doesn’t encounter such havoc.

Mwanza, Mtwara, Rukwa, Dar es salaam regions are not the only places in the world that rainfall occurs, it also rains in Canada, South Africa and China but why don’t they encounter ponds in the middle of roads when it rains for 30 minutes, the  answer is that these Industrialized states have sophisticated infrastructure systems which are sustainable, actually good political will, and economics that make roads and bridges last unlike in developing nations where road users cries are ignored but if they are relayed to the appropriate stage, it seems bureaucracy and reluctance are the setbacks behind these dirt roads repair.

Taking a close look on the Mawasiliano Bus stand road, nothing is seems to be promising. Since the Bus stand began operating in 2014 the dirt road which is currently in use has not been repaired even leveled, on the other hand it has no proper drainage system, pot holes are found in the middle of the road.

Apparently the road now weighs difficult to road users especially Bus drivers, and Pedestrians who are now having trouble getting home during these raining days

. The potholes have been enlarged filling water like a dam, most part of the road is eroded causing drivers to evade the ditches and invade pedestrian path to gain a way safely without damaging their motorcars limiting both vehicle users and pedestrians movement.  

Lack of affordable land for housing makes people to invade river valleys and establish homes  like in Msimbazi Dar es salaam. During my field research in Arusha city a good number of people I encountered lamented about Municipal and other high ranked officials to grab good plots and restrict laymen to access land, which force them, to live in shabby and flood prone areas such as Unga limited, on top of that such zones are with no proper housing plan and crude infrastructure to support their survival thus, it is clearly that they will suffer extremely when rainfall occurs.

Rainfall becomes a disaster when our social economic activities are disrupted and can’t survive again without extra aid from third party. When we can’t cross over a river because it has been swept away by rain, if our cars can’t pass due to a ditch being enlarged and filled with water like a lake,  our houses steps, and streets are filled with water due to drainages being over powered by rainwater we are clearly prone to disaster such as water borne diseases.

The Ministry of Infrastructure Development need to look over and lay the ground in establishing the sustainable infrastructure idea and embrace it. We all appreciate the work that they are doing transforming our country to an interlinked state, and connected through roads and railways. However the strategy laid down should incorporate the sustainability mechanism.

Our Buildings should be built with a very rigorous design of nature that can last not only long but with less interaction with nature’s force resulting to worse outcomes. There are houses built on hills in California in USA which are similar to those found in Mabatani Mwanza, however the designs differ which supports the buildings to handle all forces thrown at by Natural Hazards. There are few buildings found at University of dare s salaam that support my suggestion they have been built on a sloping ground, uniquely the building is constructed as a Ship to match with the topography.

Such designs should be adopted to save the money and time spent on rescuing people, repairing our roads and bridges year after year. Locally trained architects, geographers, environmentalists and engineers should come forth with ideas, projects and designs that favor our topography, environmental and climatic conditions to put flooding and all trouble associated with rainfall thrown at us in the past.

If we will incorporate sustainable architecture, our economic activities won’t be handicapped by 30 minutes rainfall, restaurants, business points will go on executing their economic activities smoothly, because post rain petty traders along high ways endure countless hours to sweep the water flooding shops away.

Not only the government should bear this cross but also us as the people creation of sustainable infrastructure won’t be viable by abandoning all the work to the central government. The people, local government, engineers and relevant stakeholders all must play a part in this however people living in flood prone areas, should abide to laws and vacate such areas to other safer places to evade havoc.

Our homes are our safe havens we need to safe guard them not only for us but for our children and their children. Better housing plans should be embraced by us thus clustering our homes makes us more vulnerable to disasters, we can only survive if we acknowledge nature and employ better utilization of resources.

An American novelist Named John Updike once said; rain is grace, rain is the sky descending to earth without rain there would be no life. Rainfall is vital for human survival as it provides us with fresh water for consumption which is very much needed as it is accounted only for 3% out of all water on earth , but also  cools the land, waters our gardens and crops on farms, enriches the underground water where wells tap water from.

We can all see rain as the major culprit in the flooding and other trouble related to it but to a great extent is our own doing, the matter on the table is to change the way we act, today and act for the future to safe guard the next generation survival.