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RAINWATER HARVESTING

Introduction:

Rainwater harvesting means capturing and storing rain that falls on-site (usually on roofs). It
is generally used for irrigation and toilet flushing or other greywater uses, though it can also
be used for drinking water if it is adequately treated. Rain water harvesting is one of the most
effective methods of water management and water conservation. It is the term used to
indicate the collection and storage of rain water used for human, animals and plant needs. It
involves collection and storage of rain water at surface or in sub-surface aquifer, before it is
lost as surface run off. The augmented resource can be harvested in the time of need. With
rapid urbanisation and greater areas coming under roofs and concrete structures the water
utilities have focused on augmentation from distant sources of water and failing to
capture the rainfall that otherwise goes as waste or causes flooding/water logging. On the
other hand, the unsustainable extraction and exploitation of groundwater for meeting growing
water requirements has placed the aquifers at great peril, lowering the groundwater table in
many areas and causing saline water intrusion in various parts of the country

Ground Reality of Our Country:

A large quantity of water is used for irrigation and there is an urgent need for proper water
management in irrigation sector. Over-irrigation through canals has led to water-logging in
western Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Hirakud command area. Seepage along the
canals can be checked by lining them. The overdraft by tube-wells has resulted in lowering of
water table in a number of villages in Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh.
In arid areas, wherever water has been brought for irrigation, saline and alkaline tracts have
emerged, rendering the soil infertile. Wasteful use of water should be checked. Sprinkler
irrigation and drip irrigation can play a crucial role in conserving scarce water resources in
dry areas. Drip irrigation and sprinkles can save anywhere between 30 to 60 per cent of
water.

Only 0.5 per cent—nearly half of this in Maharashtra—is under drip irrigation and 0. 7
percent under sprinklers. There is large-scale pollution of water as a result of industrialisation
and urbanisation. This trend has got to be checked. Although one-eighth of India is declared
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as food prone, there are several thousand villages in India which do not have potable drinking
water. The basins should be treated as one unit for planning water utilization. Dry farming
should be practiced in dry areas. The experimentation under the National Watershed
Development Programme for Rainfed Agriculture is being carried on since 1986-87.

Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) included mandatory
amendments in building bye-laws making the rain water harvesting mandatory in all mission
cities. The mid-term review highlighted for the sustainability of reform, urban local bodies
require a clear understanding not only in terms of the extent and potential of water
augmentation through Rain water harvesting but also the socio-economic and environmental
impacts. Need is to have more information on issues, challenges and potential of
Rain water harvesting across different regions. India gets an average rainfall of 4000 billion
cubic metres per annum that is highly unevenly distributed with respect to time and space,
across different agro-climatic regions. But the potential of RWH is simple; as low as 10 cm
of rainwater harvested on 1 ha. area will collect 1 million litres of water – for recharge or
storage. n the next phase of JnNURM, RWH is recommended to be made mandatory with a
non-negotiable status and the responsibility for its implementation would lie with the ULBs.4
Need is for a clear understanding not only in terms of the extent and potential of water
augmentation through RWH but also socio-economic and environmental impacts in different
regions. The concepts of RWH are simple; conserving the water where it falls, increasing the
contact time and area of contact with soil so as to increase the amount of water that enters the
aquifers as the groundwater reservoirs forms the most economical means of storage as well as
the most dispersed form of supply. The final report on appraisal of JnNURM clearly
stated that although the majority of the ULBs have made amendments to the building byelaws
but very little is known by way of the extent of water conservation achieved since the
initiatives have been recently taken and the mechanisms to monitor the same are not yet in
place.

Recently Karnataka and Tamil Nadu faced riots like situation in both their urban and rural
areas due to the Kaveri issue, where distribution of water from the river had drawn criticism
from each sect of the society in both the states especially Karnataka but a small example
shows that if the rainwater is sustainably used then this is not a grave problems as it is
portrayed to be: If Bangalore manages to recharge even 30% of the rainwater it gets, it will
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have more that what the Cauvery River is supplying currently to the city, while also cutting
down on the huge energy bill!

The sustainable water management requires understanding the value of rain, and to make
optimum use of rainwater at the place where it falls E.g. in Singapore, which has limited land
resources and a rising demand for water, is on the lookout for alternative sources and
innovative methods of harvesting water. Almost 86% of Singapore’s population lives in high-
rise buildings. A light roofing is placed on the roofs to act as catchment. Collected roof water
is kept in separate cisterns on the roofs for non-potable uses. A recent study of an urban
residential area of about 742 ha used a model to determine the optimal storage volume of the
rooftop cisterns, taking into consideration non-potable water demand and actual rainfall at
15-minute intervals.

Rivers, lakes and groundwater are all secondary sources of water. In present times we depend
entirely on such secondary sources of water. In the process, it is forgotten that rain is the
ultimate source that feeds all these secondary sources and remain ignorant of its value.
Rain Water Harvesting can be done through two methods; surface storage and groundwater
storage. Catchment areas for collection of rainwater include rooftops, compounds, roads, park
baregrounds or any other natural or artificial surface.
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Capturing rainwater can be a valuable way to reduce or even eliminate a building's use of
municipal potable water, without requiring reductions in water use by occupants. However, it
is of course more effective in rainy climates than dry ones.
Rainwater harvesting systems are measured by their area for collecting water (in m2 or ft2)
and the volume of water they store (in liters or gallons).
Simple rainwater collection systems have three main elements: the roof or other catchment
area, the storage tank(s), and the gutter and other piping that directs the water from the
catchment area to the tank.
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Feasibility

Rainwater harvesting methods are site specific and hence it is difficult to give a generalised
cost. But first of all, the major components of a rainwater harvesting system - rain and
catchment area - are available free of cost. A good proportion of the expenses would be for
the pipe connections. By judiciously fixing up the slopes of roofs and location of rainwater
outlets, this could be brought down considerably. However the cost varies widely depending
on the availability of existing structures like wells and tanks which can be modified and used
for water harvesting.

Typically, installing a water harvesting system in a building would cost between Rs

2,000 to 30,000 for buildings of about 300 sq. m. The cost estimate mentioned above is for an
existing building. For instance, water harvesting system in the CSE building in Tughlakabad
Institutional Area, Delhi, was set up with an investment of Rs 30,000 whereas those in
the model projects ranged between Rs 70, 000 and Rs 8 lakh. The costs would be
comparatively less if the system were incorporated during the construction of the building
itself.

Some basic rates of construction activities and materials have been given here, which
may be helpful in calculating the total cost of a structure. The list is not comprehensive and
contains only important activities meant to provide a rough estimate of the cost.

a. Unit cost of construction activities.

Item Unit Rate (Rs.)

Excavation in soils cu. m. 90.00
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Excavation in rock cu. m. 150.00

Brickwork with cement mortar (1:6) cu. m. 1400.00
Plain cement concrete (1:3:6) cu. m. 1500.00
Reinforced cement concrete (1:2:4) cu. m.
cu. m. 4700.00
4700.00Including steel bars, shuttering etc.
PVC piping for rainwater pipes
- 110 mm diameter Metre 165.00
- 200 mm diameter metre 275.00
Making borehole in metre 165.00Soft soil
metre 180.00
(with 150 mm diameter PVC casing)

b. Ferrocement tanks with skeletal cage

Capacity of rooftop water harvesting system in litres

5,000 6,000 7,000 9,000 10,000
Total cost
12,430 12,975 13,970 14,380 15,800
in rupees

Source: Action for food Production and United Nations Children's Fund, Rooftop rainwater harvesting systems

Sizing Rainwater Tanks

There is no one standard recommended size for rainwater storage tanks. The size depends on
the site's water needs, the weather, and whether the site is connected to a municipal water
supply or not. While bigger tanks allow for more water independence, the tank is usually the
most expensive part of the system.

Systems that do not have municipal water backup (called "off-grid") must hold much more
water, in case of shortage. The amount of oversizing depends on how crucial the water needs
are--discretionary water use like lawns or water features can be done without for days or
weeks at a time, while drinking water cannot.