Please elaborate on how rain harvesting is done?

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1 year ago

Rain Water Harvesting 44% 4 Votes

Other Answers (12)

• pits, trenches n recharge wells may be used to store 0% 0 Votes
• Gaby and Kanya gave good answers. Also check out www.rainwaterharvesting.org 0% 0 Votes
• These days state govts in India are giving benefits and concessions for people who install this rain water harvesting system in their homes. Now that you know the method of doing it, do install it in your home.
  Save Water, Save Earth!! 11% 1 Vote
• rain water harvesting is good one but the government appield this system cannot reach the poor people so government announced the poor people when used (rwh) feed back come in future 0% 0 Votes
• A sufficient, clean drinking water supply is essential to life. Millions of people throughout the world still do not have access to this basic necessity. After decades of work by governments and organisations to bring potable water to the poorer people of the world, the situation is still dire. The reasons are many and varied but generally speaking, the poor of the world cannot afford the capital intensive and technically complex traditional water supply systems which are widely promoted by governments and agencies throughout the world. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is an option that has been adopted in many areas of the world where conventional water supply systems have failed to meet people%26#039;s needs. It is a technique that has been used since antiquity.
  
  
  Examples of RWH systems can be found in all the great civilisations throughout history. In industrialised countries, sophisticated RWH systems have been developed with the aim of reducing water bills or to meet the needs of remote communities or individual households in arid regions. Traditionally, in Uganda and Sri Lanka, for example, rainwater is collected from trees, using banana leaves or stems as temporary gutters; up to 200 litres may be collected from a large tree in a single storm. Many individuals and groups have taken the initiative and developed a wide variety of RWH systems throughout the world.
  
  It is worth distinguishing, between the various types of RWH practised throughout the world. RWH has come to mean the control or utilisation of rainwater close to the point rain reaches the earth. Its practice effectively divides into
  
  Domestic RWH
  
  RWH for agriculture, erosion control, flood control and aquifer replenishment.
  It is worth bearing in mind that rainwater harvesting is not the definitive answer to household water problems. There is a complex set of inter-related circumstances that have to be considered when choosing the appropriate water source. These include cost, climate, hydrology, social and political elements, as well as technology, all play a role in the eventual choice of water supply scheme that is adopted for a given situation. RWH is only one possible choice, but one that is often overlooked by planners, engineers and builders.
  
  The reason that RWH is rarely considered is often due to lack of information - both technical and otherwise. In many areas where RWH has been introduced as part of a wider drinking water supply programme, it was at first unpopular, simply because little was known about the technology by the beneficiaries. In most of these cases, the technology has quickly gained popularity as the user realises the benefits of a clean, reliable water source at the home. the town supply is unreliable or where local water sources dry up for a part of the year, but is also In many cases RWH has been introduced as part of an integrated water supply system, where often used as the sole water source for a community or household. It is a technology that is flexible and adaptable to a very wide variety of conditions, being used in the richest and the poorest societies on our planet, and in the wettest and the driest regions of the world.
  
  Components of a domestic RWH system
  
  DRWH systems vary in complexity, some of the traditional Sri Lankan systems are no more that a pot situated under a piece of cloth or plastic sheet tied at its corners to four poles. The cloth captures the water and diverts it through a hole in its centre into the pot. Some of the sophisticated systems manufactured in Germany incorporate clever computer management systems, submersible pumps, and links into the grey water and mains domestic plumbing systems. Somewhere between these two extremes we find the typical DRWH system used in a developing country scenario. Such a system will usually comprise a collection surface (a clean roof or ground area), a storage tank, and guttering to transport the water from the roof to the storage tank. Other peripheral equipment is sometimes incorporated, for example: first flush systems to divert the dirty water which contains roof debris after prolonged dry periods; filtration equipment and settling chambers to remove debris and contaminants before water enters the storage tank or cistern; handpumps for water extraction; water level indicators, etc.
  
  Typical domestic RWH systems
  
  Storage tanks and cisterns
  
  The water storage tank usually represents the biggest capital investment element of a domestic RWH system. It therefore usually requires careful design - to provide optimal storage capacity while keeping the cost as low as possible. The catchment area is usually the existing rooftop or occasionally a cleaned area of ground, as seen in the courtyard collection systems in China, and guttering can often be obtained relatively cheaply, or can be manufactured locally.
  
  There are an almost unlimited number of options for storing water. Common vessels used for very small-scale water storage in developing countries include such examples as plastic bowls and buckets, jerrycans, clay or ceramic jars, cement jars, old oil drums, empty food containers, etc. For storing larger quantities of water the system will usually require a tank or a cistern. For the purpose of this document we will classify the tank as an above-ground storage vessel and the cistern as a below-ground storage vessel. These can vary in size from a cubic metre or so (1000 litres) up to hundreds of cubic metres for large projects, but typically up to a maximum of 20 or 30 cubic metres for a domestic system. The choice of system will depend on a number of technical and economic considerations listed below.
  
  - Space availability
  - Options available locally
  - Local traditions for water storage
  - Cost of purchasing new tank
  - Cost of materials and labour for construction
  - Materials and skills available locally