RAINWATER HARVESTING A VISION FOR ALL

SAVE THE SILVER DROPS! GET REWARDS IN THE FUTURE!

CHAMBER OF INDUSTRIAL & COMMERCIAL UNDERTAKINGS(Govt. of India Recognised)

RAINWATER HARVESTING A VISION FOR ALL

From the Desk:

As you are familiar with my perspective concerning water shortage, I wish to get yourself more pensive in this regard by exposing an incident during a discussion with one of my friend from central India. When I enquired about his well-being, the Gentleman let me know that the business is running in succession but due to the acute deficiency of water, they are on sufferance. They have to depend on water tanks for daily use and other water-required mechanisms because the water level has gone underneath 700 feet.

The situation has been obtruded in my mind and I thought at once, what will happen, if one day we have to hinge on water tankers to fulfill our needs & work? We all make our houses, buildings with the latest gadgets, could we obtain desirous results without water? To evade this incoming situation, we have to take severe crackdowns with the cooperation of all and sundry who needs water to survive & work.

I feel intense pleasure & proud to work on project – ‘NEER’. It is al about spreading a message to each & everyone for the adoption of Rain Water Harvesting so that we can yield maximum advantage of this natural bounty and assure a bright future to coming generations.

Upkar Singh AhujaManaging DirectorNew Swan Group

PRESENT SCENARIO

Water Crises

NEED FOR RAIN WATERHARVESTING

We got a lot of rain, yet we do not have water. Why?? Because we have not reflected enough on the value of the raindrop.

CHERRAPUNJI Which receives about 11,000mm rainfall annually suffer from acute shortage of drinking water. This is because the rain water is not conserved and allowed to drain away. Therefore, to meet our increasing demand of water in urban areas, to improve the quality of ground water, rain water harvesting required.

THIS IS RESULT OF 10min CONTINUOUS RAINING IS EAST LUDHIANA (DHOLEWAL CHOWK)

TOTAL WATER ON EARTH

11%

11%

1%

77%

11% ground water upto800m

11% ground water below to800m

1% in lakes, river andstreams etc.

77% in glaciers & ice caps.

3%

97%

Fresh Water

In Ocean (Saline Water)

Of the total water on the earth only 3% constitutes fresh water. Rest is saline water in the ocean

• 11% of the total fresh water on the earth is ground water available up to a depth of 800m which can be extracted for use.

•Mindless extraction and over exploitation of very small quantity of this precious nature resource has caused a rapid depletion and deterioration in its quantity and quality both.

Contrary to popular belief groundwater reserves are not in the form of lakes or streams of water inside the ground. Water in the ground is stored in the interstices (inter-particulate spaces) of the soil or rock that forms the earth. It is similar to water being stored in a sponge – it is not visible, but can be ‘squeezed’ out (or drawn out). A simple experiment to understand the nature of the groundwater is illustrated below.

UNDERSTANDING GROUND WATER

UNDERSTANDING GROUND WATERHow is Groundwater Formed when rain falls on the surface of the earth, some amount of water percolates through the soil and moves downwards under the effect of gravity. When water moves through the soil, it is said to be infiltrating, because it gets filtered in the process of passing through the pores of soil. Rain which is a primary source of water forms the groundwater aquifers over many years, as infiltration form successive rains joins the existing groundwater.

CONCEPT OF ROOF TOP RAIN WATER HARVESTING

In general, Water harvesting is the activity of direct collection of rain water. The rain water collected can be stored for direct use or can be recharged into the ground floor.

Rain is first from the water that we know in the hydrological cycle, hence is a primary source of water for us. River, lakes and ground water are all secondary source of water.

In present times, we depend entirely on such secondary sources of water and primary source has been neglected to a great extent.

BENEFIT OF RAIN WATER HARVESTING

Quality of ground water improve.

Raises the water levels in wells and bore wells that are drying up.

Mitigates the effects of drought and achieves drought proofing.

An ideal solution to water problem in area having inadequate water resources.

Reduces the soil erosion as the surface runoff is reduced.

Choking of storm water drains and flooding of roads decreases.

Saving of energy. To lift ground water, One meter rise in water level saves about 0.40 Kilo watt hour of electricity.

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

Water harvesting potential = Rainfall (mm) X collection efficiency

The collection efficiency account for the fact that all the rainwater falling over an area cannot be effectively harvested, because of evaporation the collection efficiency.

The Following is an illustrative theoretical calculation that highlights the enormous potential for rain water harvesting. The same procedure can be applied to get the potential for any plot of land or rooftop area.

Consider a building with a flat terrace area 100 sq.m. situated in Mumbai. The average annual rainfall in Mumbai is approximately 2200mm (87 Inches). In the simple terms, this means that if the terrace floor is assumed to be impermeable, all the rain that falls on it is retained without evaporation, then in one year, there will be rain water on the terrace floor a height of 2200mm.

HOW MUCH WATER CAN BE HARVESTED?

Area of the Plot = 100Sq.m (120sq. Yd)Height of rainfall = 2.2m (2200 or 87 Inches)Volume of rainfall = Area of plot x Height of rainfall Over the plot = 100 sq. m x 2.2m

= 220 cu.m. (2,20,000 Lt)

Assuming that only 60% of the total rainfall is effectively harvested, volume of water harvested = 1,32,000 liters.The volume is about seven times the annual drinking water requirement of 5-member family The average daily drinking water requirement per person is 10 liters.

TYPICAL WATER RECHARGE PIT DETAIL

5 EASY STEPS

1. BOARING & TUBE FITTING

2. PIT DIGING

3. CIVIL WORK

4. TOP COVER

5. RAIN WATER TUBEING

1. It is constructed when permeable strata of adequate thickness is available at shallow depth.

2. It is trench of shallow depth filled with pebbles and boulders.

3. These are constructed across the land slope.

4. The trench may be 0.5 to 1m wide, 1 to 1.5m deep and 10 to 20m long depending upon the availability of land and roof top area.

5. It is suitable for the buildings having the roof area to 200 to 300 sq.m.

6. Cleaning of trench should be done periodically.

RECHARGE TRENCH

Typically, installing a water harvesting system in a building would cost between Rs. 20,000/- to Rs. 30,000/- for building of about 300sq.m. it is difficult to make an exact estimate of cost because it varies widely depending on the availability of existing structures like wells and tanks which can be modified to be used for water harvesting.

The cost estimate mentioned above is for an existing building. The cost may 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.

COST OF WATER HARVESTING

CHOICE IS YOUR’S

A WATER TANKER

OR

A WATER HEAVEN

EACH ONE

ADOPT ONE