Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Goals of Water Conservation
1) Sustainability: To ensure availability for future
generations, the withdrawal of fresh water from an ecosystem
should not exceed its natural replacement rate.
2) Energy conservation: Water pumping, delivery, and
wastewater treatment facilities consume a significant amount
of energy. In some regions of the world over 15% of total
electricity consumption is devoted to water management.
3) Habitat conservation: Minimizing human water use helps
to preserve fresh water habitats for local wildlife and
migrating water flow, as well as reducing the need to build
new dams and other water diversion infrastructure.
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Water harvesting and conservation
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Contour Furrows
Bench Terraces
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Grass Strips
Stone Lines
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Retention Ditches
Planting Pits
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Earth Basins
Semi-Circular Bunds
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Cover Crops/Green Manures
Mulching
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Drip Irrigation
Conservation Tillage
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Water Harvesting from External Catchment
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Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater Harvesting is an effective method and a
simple method of collecting water for future usage. Rainwater
harvesting is the process of collecting, filtering, storing and
using rainwater for irrigation and for various other purposes.
Rainwater is collected when it falls on the earth, stored and
utilized for various purposes. It can be purified to make it into
a drinking water facility in some islands and dry land regions.
Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is a simple method by which rainfall is
collected for future usage. The collected rainwater may be
stored, utilised in different ways or directly used for recharge
purposes.
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Benefits of Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater harvesting has many benefits. The major benefit is
that it is a sustainable water management practice. It can be
implemented by every citizen at various levels. It is a
socially acceptable practice and promotes environmentally
responsible future.
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While rainwater can be a perfect primary water source for
many uses and situations, it is would be a good backup water
supply for emergency situations.
Miscellaneous Benefits
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Rainwater harvesting is part of a sustainable water supply strategy
for local communities.
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Rainwater is collected from the roof top and transported with
gutters in to a storage reservoir, where it provides water at the
point of consumption or can be used for recharging a well or
the aquifer.
Collected rainwater can be the best supplement to other water
sources when they become scarce or are of low quality like
brackish water, saline groundwater or polluted surface water,
in the rainy season.
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Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting
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(Three basic components of a rainwater harvesting system. Source: HATUM & WORM (2006)).
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(SSurface tank mad
de out of ferro‐cem
ment for the stora
age of collected ra
ainwater. Source: DOLMAN & LUND
DQUIST (2008))
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Factors to be considered
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Rainwater Collection
Calculation Formulas and Equations
Roof Area (ft2) X Precipitation Amount (in) X 0.623 =
Amount Collected (gallons)
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Tamil Nadu:
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4. CGWB has taken up Aquifer Mapping and Management
programme (NAQUIM) during XII Plan, under the scheme of
Ground Water Management and Regulation.
5. Model Building Bye Laws, 2016 circulated by Ministry of
Urban Development include the provision of Rainwater
Harvesting. As per Model Building Bye Laws, water
harvesting through storing of water runoff including rainwater
in all new buildings on plots of 100 sq.m and above will be
mandatory.
6. The Ministry of Rural Development in consultation and
agreement with the Ministry of Water Resources, RD & GR
and the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare has
developed an actionable framework for Natural Resources
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Management (NRM), titled “Mission Water Conservation” to
ensure gainful utilization of funds.
Types of common works undertaken under these
programmes/schemes are water conservation and
management, water harvesting, soil and moisture
conservation, groundwater recharge, flood protection, land
development, Command Area Development & Watershed
Management.
The government of India is working on a master plan
envisaging construction of about 23 lakh artificial recharge
and rainwater harvesting structure in rural areas and 88 lakh
in urban areas, as informed in the Lok Sabha, already.
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Conclusion:
In many cases, groundwater or surface water may be
unavailable for drinking water. The groundwater level may be
too deep, groundwater may be contaminated with minerals
and chemicals such as arsenic or salt, surface water may be
contaminated with faeces or chemicals. In these cases,
rainwater harvesting can be an effective and low-cost
solution.
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