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The Warka Water Tower is a water harvesting system designed by Atruio Vittori & Andreas Vogler. The system’s design allows for fog, humidity, and precipitation to collect on surfaces, supplying up to 100L/day. The product is built at the site of implementation.
Vittori is currently developing a lightweight wooden tower – which is quick and cheap to build without any power tools – that harvests water from the atmosphere via condensation.
The tower consists of a bamboo frame supporting a mesh polyester material inside. Rain, fog and dew condenses against the mesh and trickles down a funnel into a reservoir at the base of the structure. A fabric canopy shades the lower sections of the tower to prevent the collected water from evaporating.
Warka Tower is designed to harvest water from the atmosphere (rain, fog, dew) providing an alternative water source for rural populations that face challenges accessing drinkable water.
throughout many remote villages in ethiopia and around the world, water gathering is a dangerous task. after the many hours it takes travelling to the nearest source, the water fetched is more often than not contaminated with human and animal waste. the water scarcity issue—which affects over 1 billion people worldwide—has drawn the attention of big-name philanthropists like microsoft co-founder bill gates. it’s also a problem that designers have tackled head on, like architect arturo vittori who came up with the designs behind warka water, a bamboo structure designed to collect/harvest potable water from the air.
Target region(s): Target regions are Ethiopia, Cameroon, Haiti, and Togo.
The name ‘Warka’ comes from the Warka Tree, which is a wild large fig tBeyond potable water, we aim to empower the local ethnic groups and restore the natural ecosystem. To bring a positive impact on the community by invigorating the local economy and providing women and children opportunities to invest their time in care, education, and other cultural and productive activities.ree, endemic to Ethiopia. It has an important symbolic value, it is the center of the local community, fundamental for the local ecosystem, and offers a gathering place. Moreover, it has also a spiritual meaning, were to pray for God.
designboom first discovered the warka water tower during the venice biennale back in 2012, shortly before vittori used our reader submissions platform to self-publish details behind the concept. along with his team at architecture and vision, vittori has since developed a series of experimental prototypes and additional facilities, installing his first pilot tower in a rural village in south ethiopa, dorze in may 2015, which continues to be monitored.
vittori got the idea after visiting small isolated villages on a high plateau in the north east region of ethiopia. there he witnessed villagers who lived in environments often without running water, electricity, a toilet or a shower. he observed how women and children had to walk miles to shallow, unprotected ponds where water is often contaminated with animal and human waste.
vittori’s proposal was a lightweight, easily constructed, and infrastructure independent system like warka. comprising a bamboo frame that supports a mesh polyester material inside, the tower is both cheap and easy to build. atmospheric water vapor from either rain, fog, or dew, condenses against the cold surface of the mesh, forming droplets of liquid water that trickle down into a reservoir found at the bottom of the structure. a fabric canopy shades the lower sections of the tower to prevent the collected water from evaporating. performance is weather dependent but each tower has the capability of providing a community with up to 100 liters of water per day.
vittori and his team got inspiration from several sources, including bio-mimicry, local traditions, and the warka tree which is a giant wild fig tree native to ethiopia.warka water is designed to be owned and operated by the villagers, a key factor that facilitates the success of the project. the tower not only provides a fundamental resource for life – water – but also creates a social place for the community, where people can gather under the shade of its canopy for education and public meetings.
in total, it costs between $500-$1000USD to set up a tower—less than a quarter of the cost of the gates toilet, which costs about $2,200 to install and more to maintain. and because its design is basically parametric, the warka tower can be easily tailored and implemented in variety of different situations.
at the time of publishing warka water is trying to help different isolated communities in places such as haiti, madagascar, colombia, brasil, india, sumba, and cameroon, among others. this expansion has not only encouraged experimentation with other local materials [including palm leaves], but has also led to a series of additional projects that look to solve other important issues. the project has developed a modular system named W-solar that turns any warka tower into a source of electricity by adding solar panels to provide illumination and power for recharging mobile devices. meanwhile, W-garden proposes a system that uses harvested water for food production, and W-toilet for the improvement of sanitation and hygiene. the project is garnering support for its efforts via a series of caring crowd campaigns which can be viewed here.
Since 2012, we have developed several design concepts and constructed 12 full-scale prototypes in order to test different materials within varying environmental conditions. We use the most advanced tools for the design and simulations, as well as physical prototypes to test the durability of the materials.
WARKA TREE
“Our work finds inspiration from nature. Like the Warka tree, we aim to serve the physical and spiritual needs of the community.”
BIOMIMICRY
“Insects, animals, and plants develop specific strategies to live in a specific environment. Some of them are capable of collecting water from the air and storing it to survive in the most hostile environments on earth.”
TRADITIONS
“We integrate the local culture, craftsmanship and construction techniques, revitalizing ancient forgotten traditions”, said Arturo Vittori.
Our design philosophy is to construct using only local, natural materials, biodegradable and 100% recyclable materials(no concrete, plastic, or steel). Some of the materials are:
• Bamboo • Earth • Wood • Water • Raffia Palm Leaves • Raffia Bamboo canes • Lianas • Dry Straw • Dry Reeds.
The tower is also designed to be easily built with simple tools and maintained by local villagers without the need of scaffolding or electrical tools.
Warka Tower is designed to harvest potable water from the atmosphere (it collects rain, harvests fog and dew). It functions only by natural phenomena such us gravity, condensation & evaporation and doesn’t require electrical power. Warka Tower is designed to be owned and operated by the villagers, a key factor that will facilitate the success of the project. The tower not only provides a fundamental resource for life – water – but also creates a social place for the community, where people can gather under the shade of its canopy for education and public meetings.
The Warka Tower, version n. 1, it is the first prototype developed. It modular and prefabricated system that can be erected in one day by a team of 6 people. After installation, to take the tower up and down for maintenance it requires only 2 hours by the same team. The structure consists of 4 modules that are mounted together with one after another from the bottom up.
The Warka Tower, version n. 3.2, it is a modular and prefabricated system that can be erected in one day by a team of 16 people. After installation, taking the tower up and down for maintenance requires only 2 hours by the same team. The structure consists of six modules that are mounted together with one after another from the bottom up.
Warka Tower version 3.2 was successfully installed in March 2015 as the first WT Pilot to be deployed in a rural community. This has been a very important milestone for the project’s development and much experience has been gained since. The knowhow acquired has been fundamental for the development and implementation of subsequent versions up to the version 4.0, the second pilot in a rural community currently under construction in Cameroon.
The Warka Tower, version n. 4, has been constructed in Cameroon and inaugurated 15 October 2019.
Beyond potable water, we aim to empower the local ethnic groups and restore the natural ecosystem. To bring a positive impact on the community by invigorating the local economy and providing women and children opportunities to invest their time in care, education, and other cultural and productive activities.
Beyond potable water, we aim to empower the local ethnic groups and restore the natural ecosystem. To bring a positive impact on the community by invigorating the local economy and providing women and children opportunities to invest their time in care, education, and other cultural and productive activities.
cource: www.designboom.com _ warkawater.org _ warkawater
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