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Rainwater harvesting

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View of a Johad at village Thathawata
View of a stepwell at Fatehpur, Shekhawati. This one featured in the movie Paheli
Schematic showing how rainwater can be obtained from hillsides

Rainwater Harvesting is the gathering, or accumulating and storing, of rainwater.[1] Rainwater harvesting has been used to provide drinking water, water for livestock, water for irrigation or to refill aquifers in a process called groundwater recharge. Rainwater collected from the roofs of houses, tents and local institutions, or from specially prepared areas of ground, can make an important contribution to drinking water. In some cases, rainwater may be the only available, or economical, water source. Rainwater systems are simple to construct from inexpensive local materials, and are potentially successful in most habitable locations. Roof rainwater is usually of good quality and does not require treatment before consumption. Household rainfall catchment systems are appropriate in areas with an average rainfall greater than 200mm per year, and no other accessible water sources (Skinner and Cotton, 1992).

Systems

There are a number of types of systems to harvest rainwater ranging from very simple to the complex industrial systems. Generally, rainwater is either harvested from the ground or from a roof. The rate at which water can be collected from either system is dependent on the plan area of the system, its efficiency, and the intensity of rainfall.

Ground Catchment Systems

Ground catchments systems channel water from a prepared catchment area into storage. Generally they are only considered in areas where rainwater is very scarce and other sources of water are not available. They are more suited to small communities than individual families. If properly designed, ground catchments can collect large quantities of rainwater.

Roof Catchment Systems

A domestic rooftop rainwater harvesting system
The regular set-up of a pressurized rooftop rainwater harvester

Roof catchment systems channel rainwater that falls onto a roof into storage via a system of gutters and pipes. The first flush of rainwater after a dry season should be allowed to run to waste as it will be contaminated with dust, bird droppings etc. Roof gutters should have sufficient incline to avoid standing water. They must be strong enough, and large enough to carry peak flows. Storage tanks should be covered to prevent mosquito breeding and to reduce evaporation losses, contamination and algal growth. Rainwater harvesting systems require regular maintenance and cleaning to keep the system hygienic and in good working order.

Subsurface Dyke

Subsurface dyke is a structure that is built in an aquifer with the intention of obstructing the natural flow of ground water, thereby raising the ground water level and increasing the amount of water stored in the aquifer.

The subsurface dyke constructed at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kannur under Kerala Agricultural University with the support of ICAR as part of demonstrating rain water harvesting technologies has become a living example for an effective method for ground water conservation. The success story of the sub-surface dyke has demonstrated that it is one of the most feasible methods for the conservation and exploitation of the ground water resources of the state. The dyke is now the largest rainwater harvesting system in the region.

Groundwater Recharge

Rainwater may also be used for groundwater recharge, where the runoff on the ground is collected and allowed to be absorbed, adding to the groundwater. In the US, rooftop rainwater is collected and stored in sump.[2] In India this includes Bawdis and johads, or ponds which collect the run-off from small streams in wide area.[3][4]

In India, reservoirs called tankas were used to store water; typically they were shallow with mud walls. Ancient tankas still exist in some places.[4]

Advantages in Urban Areas

Rainwater harvesting in urban areas can have manifold reasons. To provide supplemental water for the city's requirement,it increase soil moisture levels for urban greenery, to increase the ground water table through artificial recharge, to mitigate urban flooding and to improve the quality of groundwater are some of the reasons why rainwater harvesting can be adopted in cities. In urban areas of the developed world, at a household level, harvested rainwater can be used for flushing toilets and washing laundry. Indeed in hard water areas it is superior to mains water for this. It can also be used for showering or bathing. It may require treatment prior to use for drinking

In New Zealand, many houses away from the larger towns and cities routinely rely on rainwater collected from roofs as the only source of water for all household activities. This is almost inevitably the case for many holiday homes.

Quality

As rainwater may be contaminated, it is often not considered suitable for drinking without treatment. However, there are many examples of rainwater being used for all purposes — including drinking — following suitable treatment.

Rainwater harvested from roofs can contain animal and bird feces, mosses and lichens, windblown dust, particulates from urban pollution, pesticides, and inorganic ions from the sea (Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cl, SO4), and dissolved gases (CO2, NOx, SOx). High levels of pesticide have been found in rainwater in Europe with the highest concentrations occurring in the first rain immediately after a dry spell;[5] the concentration of these and other contaminants are reduced significantly by diverting the initial flow of water to waste as described above. The water may need to be analysed properly, and used in a way appropriate to its safety. In Gansu province for example, harvested rainwater is boiled in parabolic solar cookers before being used for drinking.[citation needed] In Brazil alum and chlorine is added to disinfect water before consumption.[citation needed] Appropriate technology methods, such as solar water disinfection, provide low-cost disinfection options for treatment of stored rainwater for drinking.

System Sizing

It is important that the system is sized to meet the water demand throughout the dry season. Generally speaking, the size of the storage tank should be big enough to meet the daily water requirement throughout the dry season. In addition, the size of the catchment area or roof should be large enough to fill the tank.

Around the world

  • Currently in China and Brazil, rooftop rainwater harvesting is being practiced for providing drinking water, domestic water, water for livestock, water for small irrigation and a way to replenish ground water levels. Gansu province in China and semi-arid north east Brazil have the largest rooftop rainwater harvesting projects ongoing.
  • In Bermuda, the law requires all new construction to include rainwater harvesting adequate for the residents.
  • In Senegal/Guinea-Bissau, the houses of the Diola-people are frequently equipped with homebrew rainwater harvesters made from local, organic material.
  • In the United Kingdom water butts are oft-found in domestic gardens to collect rainwater which is then used to water the garden.
  • In the Ayerwaddy Delta of Myanmar, the groundwater is saline and communities rely on mud lined rainwater ponds to meet their drinking water needs throughout the dry season. Some of these ponds are centuries old and are treated with great reverence and respect.
  • Up until 2009 in Colorado, water rights laws restrict rainwater harvesting, a property owner who captured rainwater was stealing it from those who have rights to take water from the watershed. In Utah and Washington State, collecting rainwater from the roof is illegal unless the roof owner also owns water rights on the ground. In New Mexico rainwater catchment is mandatory for new dwellings in Santa Fe.[6]

References

  1. ^ Definition of rainwater harvesting
  2. ^ Rainwater Harvesting and Water Purification System.
  3. ^ The River maker, New Scientist, 7 September 2002. Online edition (full article by subscription)
  4. ^ a b Rima Hooja: "Channeling Nature: Hydraulics, Traditional Knowledge Systems, And Water Resource Management in India – A Historical Perspective"
  5. ^ It's raining pesticides, New Scientist, 3 April 1999.
  6. ^ "It's Now Legal to Catch a Raindrop in Colorado". New York Times. June 28, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-30. Precipitation, every last drop or flake, was assigned ownership from the moment it fell in many Western states, making scofflaws of people who scooped rainfall from their own gutters. In some instances, the rights to that water were assigned a century or more ago. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

Bibliography

  • Frasier, Gary, and Lloyd Myers. Handbook of Water Harvesting. Washington D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 1983
  • Geerts, S., Raes, D., (2009). Deficit irrigation as an on-farm strategy to maximize crop water productivity in dry areas. Agric. Water Manage 96, 1275-1284
  • Gould, John, and Erik Nissen-Peterson. Rainwater Catchment Systems. UK: Intermediate Technology Publications, 1999.
  • Hemenway, Toby. Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2000.
  • Lowes, P. (1987). "The Water Decade: Half Time". In in John Pickford (ed.) (ed.). Developing World Water. London: Grosvenor Press International. pp. pp 16-17. ISBN 0-946027-29-3. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help); |pages= has extra text (help)
  • Ludwig, Art. Create an Oasis With Greywater: Choosing, Building, and Using Greywater Systems. California: Oasis Design, 1994.
  • Pacey, Arnold, and Adrian Cullis. Rainwater Harvesting. UK: Intermediate Technology Publications, 1986.
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