Benefit of Rainwater

harvesting
o Has multiple uses-
 Domestic consumption
 toilet flushing, sprinkling,
 ground water recharge,
 reduces urban storm runoff and associate flooding and
errosion
o Low maintenance
Component of
Rainwater harvesting
Typical Domestic Rainwater
Harvesting System
Ground Catchment System
Conveyance
 Gutters and Downspouts
 Gutters are installed to capture rainwater
running off the eaves of a building.

Semi-circular gutters of PVC material

Sizing of storage tank
 Demand side approach
 A very simple method is to calculate the largest storage requirement
based on the consumption rates and occupancy of the building.
 Consumption per capita per day, C – 20 litres
 Number of people per household, n – 6
 Longest average dry period – 25 days
 Storage requirement = C x n x 25 = 3000 litres
QUALITY OF RAINWATER
 The quality of rainwater is relatively good but it is not free from
all impurities.
 Depends upont type and condition of the catchments and the
storage tank
 Dust from the soil, and droppings of birds and animals could be
the source of contamination by the bacteria.
Disinfecting Rainwater
 Rainwater can be used for drinking, if it is clear, has no or very little taste or
smell and is from well maintained system
 Rainwater may not meet WHO drinking water quality standards, specifically
microbiological quality standards, hence some disinfection is recommended.
 Disinfection can be done by:
 boiling the water in before consumption
 adding chlorine compounds/bleaching powder in required quantity to the
water stored in the tank.
 using slow sand filtration
 solar disinfection (SODIS)
task
1. Make an estimate for rain harvesting projects of different sizes.“
2. List bill of material
3. List material and their function