Rain Water Harvesting

in Schools
Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting
Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting
 What is Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting

• Rooftop Rain Water Harvesting is the

technique through which rain water is
captured from the roof catchments and stored
in reservoirs. Harvested rain water can be
stored in sub-surface ground water reservoir
by adopting artificial recharge techniques to
meet the needs through storage in tanks.
The Main Objective of rooftop rain water
harvesting is to
make water Available for Future Use.
 Capturing and storing rain water for use is
particularly important in:

• Dry land
• Hilly
• Rural
• Coastal areas
Process
 How much rain can we collect
1’’ of rainfall over 1000 sf will yeild 623 gallons
water
(formula: 1’’ of rain x 1 sq ft= 0.623 gallons)
• With the exception of the relatively dry western region of
Rajshahi, where the annual rainfall is about 1600 mm, most
parts of the country receive at least 2000 mm of rainfall per
year.
(Source:SAARC Meteorological Research Council (SMRC), 2003)
• An average if we get 1800mm(71’’) rainfall over 1000 sf
rooftop then we will yeild 44,233 gallons water annually.
Primary Level Water Filtration
Fine Mash Screening Sheet
for Primary Filtration
 Sand Bed Filter
After fill the first flush diverter water comes
into filter chamber which containing with
different purification materials like sand, small
brick, charcoal, pebble etc places in separate
permeable layer. Water get purified by going
through different layers. Then finally to
storage.
Sand Bed Filter
Filtration of Rain Water
 Chlorination
• Chlorination is one common method for treating
bacteria in the water. Liquid chlorine or chlorine tablets
are available for the treatment of water. Depending on
the volume of the rainwater in the tank, chlorine needs
to be added to disinfect the water.
• Chlorination should be carried out every time there is
rain and there is a fresh infusion of water into the tank.
Using a chloroscope, residual chlorine of 0.20 mg/ liter
should be established before the water is used for
drinking.
 Chlorination
• Chlorination is the process of adding chlorine to drinking
water to disinfect it and kill germs.
• Different processes can be used to achieve safe levels of
chlorine in drinking water.
• Chlorine is available as compressed elemental gas, sodium
hypochlorite solution (NaOCl) or solid calcium hypochlorite
(Ca(OCl)2 ).
• While the chemicals could be harmful in high doses, when
they are added to water, they all mix in and spread out,
resulting in low levels that kill germs but are still safe to drink.
• Chlorine levels up to 4 milligrams per liter (mg/L or 4 parts
per million (ppm) are considered safe in drinking water. At
this level, no harmful health effects are likely to occur.
 Safety Consideration
Storage in Tanks
1. A storage tank should not be located close to a source of
contamination, such as a septic tank etc.
2. Tank must be located on a lower level than the roof to ensure
that it fills completely.
3. A rainwater system must include installation of an overflow pipe
which empties into a non-flooding area. Excess water may also
be used for recharging the aquifer through dug well or
abandoned handpump or tubewell etc.
4. A speed breaker plate must be provided below inlet pipe in the
filter so as not to disturb the filtering material.
5. Storage tanks should be accessible for cleaning.
6. The inlet into the Storage tank should be screened in such way
that these can be cleaned regularly.
7. Water may be disinfected regularly before using for drinking
 Benefits
1. Easy to Maintain
2. Low-cost Maintenance
3. Reduces Ground Water Demand
4. Multi-Purpose usage
(Cleaning, flushing, hand washing, drinking)
 Challenges
1. Unpredictable Rainfall/ Unreliable rainfall
2. Initial High Cost to set up the full system
3. Chemical roof seepage (Certain Roof Types
may Seep Chemicals or Animal Droppings)
4. High-energy Maintenance: Regular cleaning of
the storage tanks, filtration
5. Storage limits are limited
 RTRWH
Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting is Known as
RTRWH, or simply rainwater harvesting, this
water optimisation process has been widely
implemented in rural areas in countries like
Brazil,
China,
New Zealand and
Thailand.
 Arsenic
• Arsenic usually exists in two different forms, or valences, in a
natural setting depending on the amount of oxygen available
in groundwater.
a) Arsenate, As (V): In more shallow aquifers with higher levels
of oxygen, arsenic will usually exist as arsenate, As (V).
b) Arsenite, As (III): In deeper, anaerobic ground waters, arsenic
usually occurs as As (III).
• Removal efficiencies for As (III) are usually less than those of
As (V) because of As (V)’s negative charge. In many cases,
pretreatment of As (III) to oxidize it to As (V) may be necessary
to efficiently remove arsenic from drinking water.
 Bone Char
may be a possible solution
to treat arsenic contaminated
water at low cost
 Bone Char
• It excels at removing Arsenic from water.
• It can also remove some heavy metals, radio
actives, chlorine and other contaminants from
water.
• Bone char purify the water by absorbing
method.
 Making of Bone Char
• Bone char, which also goes by the name Brimac, is
created by taking bovine (cow) bones, thoroughly
cleaning them, and drying them in the sun for at least
90 days. (Note: This isn’t a vegan product, but it is
usually Kosher certified.)
• The bones are then heated 1472° F in the absence of
oxygen.
• The result is a char made of 80% phosphate of calcium,
10% carbon and 10% calcium carbonate. It has a very
porous ionic surface, that loves adsorbing things.
 Bone Char
Advantages:
• Very effective at removing arsenic, fluoride, heavy metals
and other contaminates.
• Can be point of use or whole building.
Disadvantages:
• Filters need to be changed.
• This can be every six to 12 months depending on how
much water you use and the level of contaminates in
your water.
• If bone char tablets are use to filter the water, then the
proportion should be right. Otherwise the water taste
will be hampered.
 Reverse Osmosis
• Reverse osmosis removes most
impurities from water. Water is
forced through a membrane.
The contents of the water,
including arsenic, are left
behind on the membrane while
treated water passes through.
• Reverse osmosis units are
capable of removing arsenic.
However, pre-treatment may
also be required depending on
raw water quality
characteristics.
 Where should the reverse osmosis unit be installed?

• Reverse osmosis units can be installed either at the

point-of-entry or at the point-of-use. Point-of-entry
means that the treatment unit is installed where
the water enters the building so all water will be
treated. Point-of-use means that the treatment
unit is installed at the tap so only water used from
this tap is treated.
• It may be more economical to use reverse osmosis
only on the taps that will be used for drinking in
schools. Water should not be consumed from taps
that are not treated by the reverse osmosis unit.
 Reverse Osmosis
Advantages:
• RO is very effective at removing inorganic
constituents like arsenic, iron, lead, chromium and
manganese. As stated above, when operated under
ideal conditions, RO can remove over 95% of As (V).
• RO requires very little maintenance and no addition
of chemicals.
• high quality purified water,
• can be used as a point of use system or as a whole
school-building system.
• No filters to change unless you choose to use pre or
post-filters.
 Reverse Osmosis
Disadvantages:
• Water use. The contaminated water that is separated from your tap
water is flushed down the drain. In many cases this ends up back in
the local supply that is then sent through treatment plants and back
to consumers, so the overall effect may be negligible.
• 1) Smaller RO point-of-use systems produce only a few gallons of
treated water per day. The supply of water is limited and normally
available only for drinking.
• 2) If As (III) is present in drinking water, it need to pre-oxidize to As
(V), which will increase the complexity and cost the system.
• 3) RO-treated water may taste bland because the inorganic materials
removed in the treatment process also impart taste to drinking
water.
• 4) Larger RO systems called point-of-entry systems can treat water
for the entire school. However, these are much more expensive.
More importantly, RO point-of-entry systems can cause corrosion
 References

• https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/HealthyEnvironments/DrinkingWater/SourceWat
er/Documents/gw/arsenicremoval.pdf
• https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/arsenic
• http://wilsonweb.physics.harvard.edu/arsenic/countries/bangladesh/Minofhlth_b
ang.html
• http://www.twdb.texas.gov/publications/brochures/conservation/doc/RainwaterH
arvestingManual_3rdedition.pdf
• https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/chlorine-disinfection.html
• https://www.cleanindiajournal.com/rooftop_rainwater_harvesting_systems_in_sc
hools/
• https://theconstructor.org/water-resources/quality-test-rainwater-harvesting/542
7/
• https://
www.thebetterindia.com/193180/agra-school-rainwater-harvesting-health-student
-mid-day-meal-india
/