Drinking water in the rainforest is hard to come by. One does not just bend over the nearest stream and drink. The water often has any number of things in it that will make normal people sick. Syka's denizens are well aware of this. So the only reliable drinking water is that collected from rainfall that thankfully comes fairly regularly except in the summer. Drinking from cupped leaves and flowers that can hold water is doable, but often doesn't provide enough moisture for the average human to sustain life.
There are other ways to get water, but these ways are destructive at best, relying on chopping down trees or hacking into bamboo. So the denizens of Syka have developed very clever rainwater catchment and filter systems that catch rain off metal and wooden roofs. Randal makes sure most of his main roof builds - where people can afford them - are tiled with ceramic baked brick or laid with metal or wooden slats (now that the saw mill is in). Secondary roofs and decks are often thatched with palm fronds or other easily acquired materials that won't shed water as easily. The roofs that are designed to often drain down into barrels that are then moved to the main Syka Commons when in surplus. Homeowners often store two or three barrels for themselves and livestock, but all extra collected and filtered water is given to the community to be used in and around its core center.
This storage area is vital to the success of Syka in the dry season when water might be hard to come by or drought sets in. These barrels are well guarded by the Syka Rangers and held in high regard by the Founders.
