Earlier this month, a team of engineers from Water is Life Kenya Technical Engineering Committee (WILK-TEC) traveled to Kenya to implement an upgraded rainwater collection system at Moyo Primary School.
WILK-TEC Assessing Moyo Primary School
WILK-TEC is a group of skilled engineers who design, develop, and implement sustainable water projects in Kenya. Since 2016, the group has collaborated with Water is Life Kenya (WILK) and, as of 2024, has worked exclusively with WILK.
During WILK-TEC’s 2025 trip, where the group completed a second phase of work at Enchakita Primary School (installing gutters and a filtering system on additional buildings), it conducted an assessment of Moyo Primary School. The school had an existing rainwater collection system, however the tanks were opaque white and exposed the water to UV rays that led to algae growth. The existing gutters were not effectively capturing all of the rainwater; they used the shallow round design that is typical for the region and, due to the heavy rains in Kenya, water would splash out of the gutters. There was not a filtering system between the gutters and the tanks, so dirt and debris from the roof would contaminate the tanks.
Putting WILK-TEC’s Customized Plan to Work
Moyo Primary School consists of a single building, and the goals for the 2026 implementation trip were to improve the water retention and install a filtering system on both sides of the building. The first step was to remove the existing infrastructure to make room for WILK-TEC’s custom-designed and custom-fabricated gutters and filtering system.
The filtering system–called the “first flush”–is designed to filter out the initial dirty water that is caused by dirt and debris buildup on the roof that is washed away during the first rainfall. To construct the first flushes on each side of the building (one for each tank), the team dug holes and poured concrete to provide the necessary support and stability for the structure. The system itself was built using PVC pipes and tees, carefully cut, sanded, and glued together. Now, after each rain, the first flush will capture the dirty water which can be used for cleaning or irrigation.
