Table of Contents Topic Rain Water Harvesting schematic Purpose of Harvesting System Rainwater Harvesting Methods Page No 2 3 3

RAINWATER HARVESTING Schematic:

Figure 1 : Conceptual Schematic for Rain Water Harvesting

( Source : RWH Presentation, Urban Space Consultants , Delhi )

Purpose of Harvesting System Broadly rainwater can be harvested for two purposes Storing rainwater for ready use in containers above or below ground Charged into the soil for withdrawal later (groundwater recharging)

Source: A Water Harvesting Manual For Urban Areas

Rainwater Harvesting methods

Micro catchments: This system collects surface runoff, as sheet flow over a short distance, from a small catchments area (around 1000 sq m). Runoff water is usually applied to agriculture area where it is stored in root zone that can be used directly by the plants and also can be stored in small reservoir around the plant for later use. On-farm systems On farm systems are designed and constructed at low-cost, making them easily replicable and adaptable. It can be applied for any crop or any slope. They have higher runoff efficiency than macro-catchment systems and do not usually need water conveyance system. The most important land-based micro catchments or on-farm water harvesting systems are described below:

1. Contour ridges: These are bunds or ridges constructed along the contour line, usually spaced between 5 and 20m apart. The first 1-2 m above the ridge is for cultivation, whereas the rest is the catchment. The height of each ridge varies according to slopes gradient and the expected depth of the runoff water retained behind it. They may be constructed on wide range of slopes, from 1% to 50%. The key success of these systems is to locate the ridge as precisely as possible along the contour. In the semi-arid tropics, this system is sometimes combined with other

Source: International Centre for agricultural research in the dry areas (ICARDA)

RAIN WATER HARVESTING TECHNIQUES: There are two main techniques of rain water harvestings. Recharge to ground water. Storage of rainwater on surface for future use. The storage of rain water on surface is a traditional techniques and structures used were underground tanks, ponds, check dams, weirs etc In Recharge to ground water is the structures generally used are: Pits: - Recharge pits are constructed for recharging the shallow aquifer. These are constructed 1 to 2 m, wide and to 3 m. deep which are back filled with boulders, gravels, coarse sand. Trenches: - These are constructed when the permeable stram is available at shallow depth. Trench may be 0.5 to 1 m. wide, 1 to 1.5m. deep and 10 to 20 m. long depending up availability of water. These are back filled with filter materials. Dug wells: - Existing dug wells may be utilized as recharge structure and water should pass through filter media before putting into dug well. Hand pumps: - The existing hand pumps may be used for recharging the shallow/deep aquifers, if the availability of water is limited. Water should pass through filter media before diverting it into hand pumps. Recharge wells: - Recharge wells of 100 to 300 mm. diameter are generally constructed for recharging the deeper aquifers and water is passed through filter media to avoid choking of recharge wells. Recharge Shafts: - For recharging the shallow aquifer which is located below clayey surface, recharge shafts of 0.5 to 3 m. diameter and 10 to 15 m. deep are constructed and back filled with boulders, gravels & coarse sand. Lateral shafts with bore wells: - For recharging the upper as well as deeper aquifers lateral shafts of 1.5 to 2 m. wide & 10 to 30 m. long depending upon availability of water with one or two bore wells are constructed. The lateral shafts are back filled with boulders, gravels & coarse sand. Spreading techniques: - When permeable strata start from top then this technique is used. Spread the water in streams by making check dams, nala bunds, cement plugs, gabion structures or a percolation pond may be constructed. The most popular Rain water harvesting system is the typical roof top rain water harvesting system. It comprises of the following:

Roof catchment: The roof of the house is used as the catchment for collecting rain water. The style construction and material of the roof effect its suitability as a catchment, Roofs made of corrugated iron sheet , asbestos sheet, Tiles or Concrete can be utilized for harvesting the rain water Gutters: Gutters are channels fixed to the edges of roof all around to collect & transport the rainwater from the roof. Gutters can be made in semi-circular and rectangular shape with cement pipe, plain galvanized iron sheet, PVC pipes, bamboos etc. Use of locally available material reduce the overall cost of the system. Down pipe It is the pipe which carries the rainwater from the gutters to the filter & storage tank. Down pipe is joined with the gutters at one end & the other end is connected to the filter unit of the storage tank. PVC or GI pipe of 50mm to 75mm (2 to) are commonly used for down pipe. Bamboo can be also used wherever available and possible First flushing pipe: Debris, dust & dirt collect on the roof during non rainy periods when the first rain arrive. A first flush system arrangement is made to avoid the entering unwanted material into the Filter media & storage tank. This is a simple manually operated arrangement or semi-automatic system with a valve below the T junction Filter Unit: The filter unit is a container or chamber filled with filter media such as coarse sand, charcoal, coconut fiber, pebbles & gravels to remove the debris & dirt from water that enters the tank. The filter unit is placed over the storage tank or separately. It may be of Ferro cement filter unit, Aluminum, Cement rings or Plastic bucket etc. Storage Tank: It is used to store the water that is collected from the roof through filter. For small scale water storage plastic buckets, jerry cans, clay or cement jars, ceramic jars, drums may be used. For larger quantities of water, the system will require a bigger tank with cylindrical or rectangular or square in shape constructed with Ferro cement or cement rings or plain cement concrete or reinforced cement concrete or brick or stone etc. The storage tank is provided with a cover on the top to avoid the contamination of water from external sources. The storage tank is provided with pipe fixtures at appropriate places to draw the water to clean the tank & to dispose of extra water. A provision for keeping the vessel to collect the water is to be made.

Sample calculation

Sample Calculation for Quantity of Rain Water which can be harvested

The total amount of water i.e. received in the form of rainfall over an area is called the rainwater endowment of that area. Out of this the amount that can be effectively harvested is called the rainwater harvesting potential.

Rain water harvesting potential = Rain fall (mm) x collection efficiency (Say) 600 mm (Ref Table No.1) Annual rain fall of any city I place Height of rain fall Area of Roof Catchment Vol. Of rain fall over the plot Rain water endowment of that area = 0.6m = 100 Sqm = Area plot x height of rain fall = 100 Sqm x 0.6 m = 60 m3 = 60,000 litres (Say 'A')

Sample calculation for effectively harvested water from total rainfall (i) Considering roof catchment is having tile finish so coefficient for roof surface can be adopted as 0.85 (Ref Table No.2) (ii) Another constant coefficient for evaporation, spillage and first flush wastage can be considered as 0.80 (for all situations) Approximate effectively harvested water quantity = Rain Water endowment of that area ('A') x Surface efficient (to be obtained from Table No.2) x 0.80 = 60,000 x 0.85x 0.80 = 40,800 litres

This volume is about twice the annual drinking water requirement of a 5 member family. The average drinking water is required per person per day is 10 litres.

The collection efficiency accounts for the facts that all the rain water falling over an area cannot be effectively harvested because of evaporation, spillage etc. Factor like run off coefficient as stated for various types of roof and land surfaces etc. as shown in Table No.2 and the first flush wastage i.e. first spell of rain is flushed out, evaporation and spillage does not enter the system so a constant co-efficient of 0.80 may be adopted for all situations. This is done because the first spell of rain carries with it a relatively larger amount of pollutants from the air and catchment surface.