I’m definitely a bit late with posting final work from my last semester at school but here’s my first post with a few more to follow. This project was completed for the elective Disaster Field Lab which examines post-disaster response and pre-disaster pre-planning in Haiti. Each student created a project in Port-au-Prince or in the surrounding valley based on research interests or response to context.

MUR D’EAU: L’EAU DANS CANAAN / WATER WALL: WATER IN CANAAN

Currently Canaan lacks basic services such as drinking water provision, sanitary sewer or septic, and electricity. Since most NGO efforts focus on bringing electricity, shelter and medical care to Canaan, little attention has been paid to the provision of safe drinking water. Currently Canaan residents purchase water from delivery trucks, however, as Canaan typically consists of the poorest of the poor, a cheaper, more permanent system is necessary. In an effort to increase health and living standards in Canaan this project proposes a new infrastructure which filters and stores storm water runoff for safe drinking water, gray water, and irrigation water provision to Canaan residents.

Due to variable amounts of monthly rainfall the proposed system emerges at a communal scale. This scale allows for the integration of discrete erosion control walls with water collection systems therefore providing adequate water collection and hillside erosion control. The communal systems subdivide Canaan into 5.5 – 15 hectare collection zones, each with its own independent water collection walls, bioswale filtration system, approximately 60,000 gallon storage capacity, and water distribution spigots for 300 residents. The location of the new water distribution sites provide the potential for new public gathering spaces which could be ingrained in future planning efforts. By providing a framework for improved living conditions through controlled soil erosion, water collection, and water distribution sites a new city framework is implied which allocates residential, agricultural and public zones and has the potential to drive the future of Canaan.

Overview of Canaan, Haiti

Study Area Location

Water Collection Zones with Water Walls at Base

Sample Zone Development

Water Wall System