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Rainwater harvesting is a technology used to supply water for domestic purposes in developing countries. Rooftop rainwater harvesting involves collection of rainwater from a rooftop via a guttering system and storage in a cistern. During dry weather, dust and other pollutants accumulate on the roof surface and are washed off at the beginning of the next rain. The initial contaminated volume of water flowing from a roof after a rainstorm is known as the first flush and research has shown that diverting it from the main supply can improve the quality of stored water. This thesis considers a variety of design options for rainwater harvesting, set in the context of rural Bisate Village in northwestern Rwanda. Fieldwork evaluated the potential for rainwater harvesting at three community-scale locations; a health clinic, a primary school, and a house for gorilla trackers and by analysis of the water quality, sought to characterize the first flush phenomenon using an apparatus to collect discrete time-sequenced volumes of runoff