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M.N PRAVIN

Ancient civilization developed along the banks of rivers and water bodies.
Rivers were source of water for irrigation and other day to day activities.

India is rapidly urbanizing and so do our requirements. A certain years before cities were self sufficient in meeting their water needs. Today these water bodies have completely disappeared. Groundwater is been continuously extracted and now there is water crisis when the monsoon fails to set in.

As the water crisis continues to become severe, there is a direct need of reform in water management system and revival of traditional systems.
System of collection rainwater and conserving for future needs has traditionally been practiced in India.

Rain water harvesting is a simple technique in which the rain water is collected and stored underground for future use. It is a cost effective method and can be implemented in any area. Traditional rainwater harvesting is still prevalent in rural areas, in surface storage bodies like lakes, ponds and irrigation tanks. In urban areas however, due to the shrinking of open spaces, rainwater has to be harvested in order to ensure that the ground water level goes up.

Rainwater harvesting has several advantages:

Helps you cut down on your water bills.

Reduces demand on the municipal water supply. Makes efficient use of a valuable resource. Reduces the possibilities of the occurrence of natural calamities such as floods. Reduces soil erosion. Prevents the contamination of ground water.

For example in a place where it rains 500 mm and the roof area is 100 square meters, the rainwater falling on the roof is 50,000 litres. Some amount of it will be absorbed by the roof and some amount will be lost in the collection process. If we assume 80% can be collected then 40,000 litres of rainwater is available for collection.

Rainfall Quantity:

Most unpredictable variable and differs from place to place. Rainfall data has to be collected at least for a period of 10 years.

Rainfall Pattern:

The number of annual rainy days also influences the need and design for rainwater harvesting.

The fewer the annual rainy days, the more the need for rainwater collection in a region.
However, if the dry period is too long, big storage tanks would be needed to store rainwater. Hence in such regions, it is more feasible to use rainwater to recharge groundwater aquifers rather than for storage.

Catchment Area:

Area and type of catchment over which the rain falls is another important parameter. Different area have different co-efficient types. It depends on losses due to spillage, leakage, infiltration, catchment surface wetting and evaporation which reduces the amount of surface run-off.

The common components of a rainwater harvesting system involved are:

Catchment area which may include

Terrace Courtyard of a building Lawn Open ground Roof made of reinforced cement concrete , corrugated sheets can also be used.

Roof The existing roof is made use of to collect rainwater. Since rainwater is pure as it falls from the sky it is necessary that the roof be kept clean for it to remain pure when it is collected. Coarse Mesh- To prevent passage of debris. It filters the wastes from entering the gutters.

Gutters- Channels around the edge of the sloping roof to collect and transport rainwater to the storage tank.
Can be semi circular Rectangular Made with locally available galvanized iron sheet. PVC pipes cut into two semi circular channels. Bamboo or betel trunks. The gutters need to be cleaned regularly at least weekly once. To enable water to flow in one direction.

Conduits- These are pipelines or drains that carry water from catchment area to harvesting system. They should invariably be clamped firmly to the wall and should never be loosely fixed.
First flushing- A valve to discharge first collected polluted water through another direction since it carries dust from the air and catchment surface. It is the first rain separator is always kept in the closed position and never left open.

Filter- To remove suspended pollutant particles from rainwater collected. It is a unit made from a chamber filled with coarse filtering particles.
Charcoal water filters- It

is a drum filled by gravel sand and charcoal layer by layer. It removes silt, dust, leaves and other organic matter from entering the storage tank.

 Sand filters- These are easy and inexpensive to construct. It is used to treat water to remove turbidity, color and microorganism. Filter for large roof tops- In this system it should accommodate the excess flow. It is designed with 3 concentric circular chamber with sand, coarse aggregate and pebbles in layer. This way area of filtration is increased.

Storage facility- The rainwater storage tank collects all the filtered rainwater and keeps it for future use. The storage tank is made above the ground and on a platform. It can also be an underground sump in some cases. The tank is invariably painted white on the outside. This is done to keep the water inside cool and prevent the growth of bacteria. Every year the tank must be white washed neatly. The tank also will be sealed from the top and the tank should also be completely water tight.

These are tanks classified as per

Shape: Cylindrical, rectangular and square.

Material of construction: Reinforced cement concrete, ferro cement, masonry, plastic (polyethylene) or metal (galvanised iron) sheets are commonly used. Position of tank: Depending on space availability these tanks could be constructed above ground, partly underground or fully underground. Some maintenance measures like cleaning and disinfection are required to ensure the quality of water stored in the container.

Recharge structures- Rain water may also be collected into groundwater aquifers through dug wells, bore wells, recharge trench and recharge pits. Providing the following elements in the system can ensure the quality of water entering the recharge wells: 1. Filter mesh at entrance point of rooftop drains 2. Settlement chamber 3. Filter bed

If the roof, the gutter, the first rain separator and the filter is kept clean, the collected rainwater will be crystal clear. Even if the water is clear and does not smell still it must be checked for micro-biological contamination. Use a H2S strip test bottle. The method suggested for treating for bacteria is chlorination. Residual chlorine of 0.20 mg/litre.
Another form of deactivating bacteria and making water fit for consumption is called SODIS Solar disinfection of water.

Schools can use rain water for toilet flushing, cooking, washing hands and feet before eating and after toilet use.
If treated properly can be used for drinking water to provide 1.5 lit water each student.

This is especially important in areas where there is Fluoride, Nitrate, iron or salt in the groundwater and therefore it is unfit for consumption.

Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu State, and the fourth largest Metropolis of the country. It gets an average of 1300 mm of rainfall every year, but nearly 65 percent of the rainfall is lost due to surface runoff to the sea and evaporation. Due to shrinking of open spaces, rainwater can be harvested and recharged as ground water.

In Chennai, Besant Nagar is taken as a study area to carry out the impact of Rain water Harvesting. The soil condition is sandy and the average depth of water table from ground level is 7.8 m. The water is salty in nature.

Primary data of ground water level is taken continuously from 15 wells and Quality study of totally 11 samples were taken once a month from Sep 2004 to April 2005 in Besant Nagar. After the provision of Rain water harvesting though the consumption is more i.e approximately 98550 m3 ,the possible recharge was found to be 102644 m3 .

Hence the recharge is increasing from 0.36 m3 / m2 to 0.65 m3/m2 from the year 1995 to 2005, this is said to be the impact of RWH on ground water quantity.

Tamil Nadu government made Rain water harvesting mandatory for all building in the state on July 19, 2003.
Due to heavy water scarcity and drought an ordinance was put forth titled Tamilnadu Municipal Laws ordinance. The deadline for constructing rain water harvester was August 31,2003.

The ordinance states Failure of implementing rain water harvesting as required, the Commissioner or any authorized person appointed by him on his behalf has the rights to issue notice to the owner or occupier of the building, provide rain water harvesting in the building and recover the costs along with incidental expenses as property tax. It also warned the public that the water supply may be discontinued if the rain water harvesting is not implemented in each building. Such a strict law forced everyone to participate and preserve the rain water for future use in the state of Tamil nadu.

The following states and places in India have made rain water harvesting mandatory:
Himachal Pradesh Ahmadabad Bangalore Port Blair Chennai Kerala New Delhi Indore(MP) Kanpur(UP) Hyderabad(AP) Haryana Rajasthan Mumbai Gujarat

Conditions apply