Rain Water Harvesting

Introduction to Rain Water Harvesting Need and

Importance of Rain Water Harvesting in Buildings.

Rain Water Harvesting Systems at Site Level and

Building Level - Treatment of Water Storage of Water.

Planning and Design Consideration for Rain Water

Harvesting in Multi-Storied Buildings.

Introduction to Plumbing Layout with Case Study

explaining the Water Supply Layout, Sewerage Layout &
Rain Water Harvesting Layout.
Rainwater harvesting is the accumulation and
deposition of rainwater for reuse on-site, rather than
allowing it to run off.

RWH is the process of collecting, conveying & storing

water from rainfall in an area for beneficial use.
Storage in tanks, reservoirs, underground storage-
groundwater Hydrological Cycle
How?

1.Collect
2.Use
3.Store
4.Recharge if theres excess
Why Rain water be harvested?

To conserve & augment the storage of ground water

To reduce water table depletion
To improve the quality of ground water
To arrest sea water intrusion in coastal areas
To avoid flood & water stagnation in urban areas

An ideal solution for areas where there is insufficient

water.
Reduces load on treatment plants.
Reduces urban flooding.
Need for Rain water harvesting
Shortage of Water - Water scarcity is the lack of
sufficient available water resources to meet the
demands of water usage within a region.
Population increase
Industrialization
Urbanization
Deforestation
Pollution or contamination

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?.........

WATER HARVESTING TECHNIQUES

Water Harvesting refers to
collection and storage of rainwater and
also other activity such as harvesting
surface water
extracting ground water,
prevention of loss through evaporation and
seepage.

Rainwater harvesting is the activity of direct

collection of rain water. Rain water can be
stored for direct use or can be recharged into
the ground water aquifer. Methodologies
Roof rain water harvesting
Land based rain water harvesting
HOW TO HARVEST RAIN WATER?...
Broadly there are two ways of harvesting rainwater:
(i) Surface runoff harvesting :- In urban area rainwater
flows away as surface runoff. This runoff could be
caught and used for recharging aquifers by adopting
appropriate methods.
(ii) Roof top rainwater harvesting:- It is a system of
catching rainwater where it falls. In rooftop harvesting,
the roof becomes the catchments, and the rainwater is
collected from the roof of the house/building. It can
either be stored in a tank or diverted to artificial recharge
system. This method is less expensive and very effective
and if implemented properly helps in augmenting the
groundwater level of the area.
ROOFTOP RAIN WATER
HARVESTING
Components
1. Catchment
2. Gutter and downtake pipe
3. First flush & filter
4. Delivery system
5. Storage
Catchment - Rooftops are favoured because of the
large coefficient of run-off generated from them and
relatively less likelihood of their contamination. The
water that leaves the rooftop may be 65 90% of the
water that falls on it.

Gutter and downtake pipe Gutters are channels

fixed to the edges of roof to collect and transport the
rainwater from the roof. It lead the water from the
catchment surface to the storage tank.
Down pipe - It is the pipe which carries the rainwater
from the gutters to the filter & storage tank. PVC or GI
pipe of 50mm to 75mm are commonly used for down
pipe.

First flush devices - remove grit, leaves and dirt that

the rainwater may transport from the catchment, before
the water enters the storage tank. When it rains after a
long gap, the rooftops are usually very dirty and the
rainwater also carries with it a lot of dissolved air
pollutants. A first flush device diverts the water from
the first rain so that it does not enter the storage tank.
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.

Sand Gravel Filter -

These are commonly
used filters, constructed
by brick masonry and
filtered by pebbles,
gravel, and sand. Each
layer should be separated
by wire mesh.
 Charcoal filter can be made in-situ or in a
drum. Pebbles, gravel, sand and charcoal
should fill the drum or chamber. Each layer
should be separated by wire mesh. Thin layer
of charcoal is used to absorb odor if any.

PVC Pipe filter - can be made by PVC pipe of 1

to 1.20 m length; Diameter of pipe depends on the
area of roof. Six inches dia. pipe is enough for a
1500 Sq.ft roof and 8 inches dia. pipe should be
used for roofs more then 1500 Sq.ft.

Pipe is divided into three compartments by wire mesh. Each component

should be filled with gravel and sand alternatively, and a layer of charcoal
could also be inserted between two layers.
 Sponge Filter - is a simple filter
made from PVC drum having a layer
of sponge in the middle of drum. It is
the easiest and cheapest form filter,
suitable for residential units.

Delivery system - Piping systems that convey the stored

rainwater till the point of end-use. It is not recommended
to use harvested rainwater for drinking, cooking and
dishwashing unless water quality issues are verified and
necessary treatment or purification systems installed.
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.

Above ground
Ground level or Intermediate floor level
Just below roof
Below ground
Storage tank features
Durable and no leaks
Built on a strong and stable substrate that can support
the tank filled with water
Opaque presence of light can cause algal growth in
tank
Secure and impervious cover
Vents to be covered with insect proof mesh
Located as close as possible to demand and supply
points to reduce plumbing.
Overflow pipe should be provided close to the top, to
reduce dead space.
Overflow pipe diameter should be equal to
inlet pipe diameter
Overflow pipe should lead excess water away
from the foundation of tank and other buildings.
Preferably the overflow should be led into a
groundwater recharge system or a garden
There will be sedimentation in the tank. Taps
and pipes to draw water from the tank should not
be very close to the bottom to prevent sediments
from entering the plumbing system and clogging
it.
STORAGE SIZE

Rainwater availability
Water requirement
Budget (storage tank is most expensive
part of (rwh system)
Available space and aesthetics

Excess water can be diverted into a groundwater

recharge system
Storage of Direct Use
In this method rain water collected from the roof of the
building is diverted to a storage tank. The storage tank
has to be designed according to the water requirements,
rainfall and catchment availability.
Excess water could be diverted to recharge system. Water
from storage tank can be used for secondary purposes
such as washing and gardening etc. This is the most cost
effective way of rainwater harvesting. This also
conserves groundwater, if it is being extracted to meet the
demand when rains are on.
Recharging ground water aquifers
Ground water aquifers can be recharged by various
kinds of structures to ensure percolation of rainwater
in the ground instead of draining away from the
surface. Commonly used recharging methods are:-

a) Recharging of bore wells

b) Recharging of dug wells.
c) Recharge pits
d) Recharge Trenches
e) Soak ways or Recharge Shafts
f) Percolation Tanks
 Recharging of bore wells -
Rainwater collected from
rooftop of the building is
diverted through drainpipes to
settlement or filtration tank.
After settlement filtered water is
diverted to bore wells to
recharge deep aquifers.

Recharge pits are small pits of any

shape rectangular, square or circular,
contracted with brick or stone masonry
wall with weep hole at regular
intervals. Top of pit can be covered
with perforated covers. Bottom of pit
should be filled with filter media.
 Soak away or recharge shafts are
provided where upper layer of soil
is alluvial or less pervious. These
are bored hole of 30 cm dia. up to
10 to 15 m deep, depending on
depth of pervious layer.

Dug well can be used as

recharge structure.
Rainwater from the rooftop
is diverted to dug wells
after passing it through
filtration bed.
 Recharge trench in provided where
upper impervious layer of soil is
shallow. It is a trench excavated on
the ground and refilled with porous
media like pebbles, boulder or
brickbats. it is usually made for
harvesting the surface runoff.

Percolation tanks are artificially created surface water

bodies, submerging a land area with adequate permeability to
facilitate sufficient percolation to recharge the ground water.
These can be built in big campuses where land is available
and topography is suitable.