A rain gauge is used to measure the amount of rainfall received in an area. In this case, the water club will use it to approximate the rainfall received in our school.

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Requirements of installation of a manual rain gauge are:

• Cement,

• Gravel,

• Spade/digging tools,

• Water,

• Tape-Measure,

• Rain gauge, and

• a stand.

 

The parts of a rain gauge are:

• Funnel: Direct the water to the measuring cylinder.

• Measuring Cylinder: Measure the amount of rainfall in a given period.

• Jar: Collect the overflow water from measuring cylinder.

• Stand: To support the rain gauge

 

Procedure:

1. We dug a hole of 50cm below the earth’s surface using a jembe and a talimbo (digging tools).

2. We mixed the cement, gravel sand and water.

3. We kept some amount of the mixture to the hole then we placed the stand in the hole while we continued to add the mixture to the hole and levelled it.

4. We fixed the rain gauge to the stand.

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Our manual rain gauge is 80cm above the ground to avoid backsplash of water into the rain gauge and to avoid running water entering the rain gauge. The stand is metallic to prevent it from being destroyed by pests. Our rain gauge is located in an open [area] and free from trees and buildings. It is on a flat area/land to stabilize the rain gauge.

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Importance of measuring rain:

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• Helps the farmers to know when to prepare the land for farming.

• Also helps the farmers to know the types of crops to be planted in a certain area.

• Helps the people to know the types of clothes to wear on a particular area and season.

• After some time it can help us to know if amounts of rain are changing.

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Check out the TAHMO School 2 School initiative for more information on measuring rainfall.