Performance and suitability of an economically efficient Rapid Sand Filter for filtration of roof-top harvested rainwater

Abstract

This study has focused on filtering collected roof-top rainfall, with particular attention to the rural areas of developing nations that lack either financial assistance or the feasibility of a new, rejuvenated, and lavish filtration mechanism. It demonstrates the economical use of Rapid Sand Filters, which can be created with locally accessible raw filter material to make them available to economically deprived segments of society. The chemical, physical, and biological aspects of water constituteits quality. Population and industry are increasing at a rapid rate, which is degrading the environment. In addition, the limited quantity of water mandates an immediate solution to this problem by safeguarding our existing water supplies. In recent years, it has been observed that most river basins are drying due to the severe water crisis caused by agricultural expansion, industry, and urbanization. Several conventional wastewater treatment methods, including adsorption, chemical coagulation, trickling filters, and activated sludge treatment, are employed to remove these pollutants; however, due to their high operational costs, these methods are minimal. As a result, researchers worldwide are putting their efforts into developing efficient, cost-effective, and user-friendly techniques for purifying water through filtering. This work focuses on the efficiency and suitability of these Rapid Sand Filters in filtering the accumulated rainwater from roof-tops by comparing the Standard Quality parameters of drinking water, such as pH, Hardness, Acidity, Alkalinity, and Turbidity, with those obtained from the rainwater after filtration from these filters prepared by varying the dimensions and using different depths of filter media within a set of Rapid Sand Filters. This research was conducted at the Department of Water Resources Development and Management, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India, where standard chemical packs were used to analyzethe quality of filtered rainwater, and the final results were compared to IS 10500–2012 norms. This work will result in finding a sustainable and economically efficient design for a Rapid Sand filter that can be used to retrieve good quality roof-top harvested rainwater after filtering through it and can be a good alternative in regions with a dearth of drinkable water.