Abstract
Rainwater harvesting is an innovative and a suitable alternative approach of water supply that can be used by anyone. Rainwater harvesting captures, diverts, and stores rainwater for later use. It is a well known fact that during summer season there is a huge scarcity of water in northern regions of India and as such implementing rainwater harvesting would be beneficial because it would reduce demand on existing water supply reduces run-off, erosion, and also contamination of surface water. A rainwater harvesting system can range in size and complexity. All systems have basics components, which include a catchment surface, conveyance system, storage, distribution, and treatment. As such, we discuss in this paper about the prospects and possibilities of rainwater harvesting in Shimla region of Himachal Pradesh, which experience water shortages in summer periods due to increase in population and also climatic conditions. The result of our study shows that judicious storing of rain water all round the year and not only summer can be stored without incurring any significant losses. Further, the study shows that the sanitation water requirements for a family can be met for two months with storage of rainwater for one single month only. Further, the construction pattern of houses in Shimla (sloped roof structures) already provides an advantage in storing rainwater efficiently. The non-dimensional design parameters can be applied for any place which experiences a scarcity of water. The paper also presents a simple benefit-cost ratio for the designed rainwater harvesting system.
Highlights
The world faces escalating demands for good quality of water in the future as current demand from surface and ground water supplies continue to dwindle
Case study I show that if we consider the total volume of rainwater harvested at the Jaypee University of Information Technology (JUIT) campus over a year, it will be sufficient enough to cater to sanitation and washing requirements for all the people living in block D throughout the year
This paper attempts to focus on the sustainability and effectiveness of a rainwater harvesting system in terms of quality and it’s a proper utilization
Summary
The world faces escalating demands for good quality of water in the future as current demand from surface and ground water supplies continue to dwindle Even in those areas that appear to have adequate water supply, there is a constant need to balance the existing water supply with ever growing demands. Rainwater harvesting structures have been successfully implemented in semi-arid, dry and sub-humid regions which often experiences water scarcity due to significant variation in rainfall instead of the total volume of rainfall. Due to such conditions high rainfall intensities coupled with lesser frequency of rainfalls and poor spatio-temporal distribution of rainfall, even if total volume of rainfall is sufficient leads to huge amount of rainfall water loss leading to scarcity of water [1]. With the increase in frequency of dry spells attributed to change in climatic pattern over the water, the IPCC report [2] suggested use of rainwater harvesting for increasing agricultural production
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