Roof Water Harvesting Research Articles

Pre-Treatment of Karst Groundwater Recharge with Roofwater System

Urban roofwater harvesting and reuse plays a more and more important role in alleviating the pressure of urban flood control and water shortage. Roofwater was injected into aquifers after initial removal and pre-treatment to add groundwater supply, this methodology was tested in the roof of NO.1 teaching building on the west campus of University of Jinan, where the recharge system was designed and the device of initial rainwater removal was developed. The identification of rainfall intensity and hydraulic calculation of recharge system were carried out. In view of the characteristics of roofwater pollutants, the media, particular size, thickness and rate of filter material were determined by laboratory tests. It is an auto-recharge and gravity-driven system, which was proved to be feasible by the recharge test at the end of flood seasons in 2011.

An assessment of microbiological water quality of six water source categories in north-east Uganda

Target 7C of the Millennium Development Goals is to "halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation". However, the corresponding indicator measures the "proportion of population using an improved drinking water source". This raises the question of whether "safe" and "improved" can be used interchangeably. This paper tests this hypothesis by comparing microbiological water quality in 346 different water sources across the District of Amuria in Uganda to each other and to defined standards, including the WHO drinking water standard of zero TTC per 100 ml, and the Ugandan national standard of 50 TTC per 100 ml. The water sources were grouped into six different categories: boreholes, protected springs, covered hand dug wells, open hand dug wells, open water and roofwater harvesting. The paper concludes that the ranking from the highest to the lowest microbiological quality water was: boreholes, protected springs and roofwater harvesting, open and covered hand dug wells, open water. It also concludes that sanitary surveys cannot be used to predict water quality precisely; however they are an essential component of the monitoring of safe water supplies.

RAINWATER HARVESTING IN HOSTELS 12 AND 13 OF IIT BOMBAY

ABSTRACT Rising population and consumption growth will put increasing pressure on the limited freshwater resources. Conventional projects such as damming the rivers and water transport to urban areas have social and political issues of their own. Water conservation is cost effective and relatively easier to carry out. Rain water harvesting is useful in managing our limited resources particularly in places like Mumbai which have almost double the national average rainfall. The technical aspects of roof water harvesting for the hostels 12 and 13, IIT Bombay, accommodating over thousand students with dining facilities, have been considered. Water harvesting potential for the hostels was calculated, and tank capacities with various design considerations for calculating volume of tank have been discussed to suggest the most appropriate method for the estimation of volume in the present case. Gutter design, its analysis, first flush and filtration mechanisms are also dealt with in detail. Finally the consolidated recommendations for the roof water harvesting scheme in the hostels are presented.

Roofwater harvesting in Africa

In few areas of Africa is roofwater harvesting likely to be sufficient for all domestic needs, at a reasonable cost. But despite this and other factors that have so far prevented the widespread dissemination of this technology, roofwater harvesting is gradually being recognized as a partial solution to the need for clean water, close to the home.

Local financing mechanisms for roofwater harvesting in Uganda

Roofwater harvesting has been spreading at an impressive rate in the Oruchinga Valley in south-western Uganda over the past 10 years. Local savings and credit groups have been important for helping households make this large investment, and microfinance institutions might play an increasing role in future.

CONSTRAINTS AND SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR ADOPTION OF TC BANANA TECHNOLOGY AND MARKETING

CONSTRAINTS AND SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR ADOPTION OF TC BANANA TECHNOLOGY AND MARKETING

Roof Water Harvesting for Domestic Water Security: Who Gains and Who Loses?

Roof water harvesting is being widely promoted as a panacea for the growing drinking water crisis in India and many underdeveloped and developing countries. This article analyzes the scope, physical feasibility, and economic viability of roof water harvesting systems across classes and under different physical and socioeconomic situations. This article argues that roof water harvesting systems (RWHS) are not alternative to public systems in urban and rural areas of regions receiving low rainfall. Hydrological opportunities for RWHS are very poor in urban and rural areas. The systems offer very little scope in ensuring domestic water security for urban housing stocks of low- and middle-income groups. At the same time, they offer tremendous potential for independent bungalows having large roof area. However, their physical feasibility is very poor in urban areas. Their economic viability as a supplementary source of domestic water supply seems to be poor in urban areas, when compared to augmenting the supplies from the existing public systems. The incredibly low rates charged for domestic supplies by urban water utilities and government subsidies for RWHS would only lead to the urban elite increasing their access to water supplies, while the burden on water utilities would remain unchanged. This will lead to greater inequities in access to water supplies. At the same time, in rural areas with dispersed populations and hilly areas, RWHS may be economically viable as a supplementary source to already existing public water supply schemes. But as its impacts are not likely to be uniform across classes, government subsidies are not desirable. In hilly regions receiving high rainfalls, government investment for community water supply schemes could be replaced by heavy subsidies for installation of RWHS.

Where is roofwater harvesting going?

Roofwater harvesting can be a clean and convenient method of obtaining water. Terry Thomas considers the many advantages and disadvantages of its use, as well as its future prospects.