Rainwater Harvesting in India

What is rainwater harvesting?

• Rainwater harvesting is manmade way to collect and store the rainwater and use it when needed. Mostly water is collected from hard surfaces like rooftop and other raised solid surfaces.
• Simple infrastructural changes can be done for rainwater harvesting. Sometime rainwater is stored in manmade pits and used for onsite water supply or to recharge ground water.

Unlike recycling & reuse of wastewater, Rainwater harvesting is now mandatory in India for hotels, malls and hospitals in major urban areas.

Government of India has decided to make Rainwater harvesting compulsory in urban areas considering increasing population and burden on water supply. Low rainfall situations and drying ground water levels are main challenges in urban as well as rural areas to keep sufficient water supply.
Rain water harvesting is sustainable way of water conservation. Such water can be used throughout the year for all basic needs after filtration and UV disinfection. Check out this article to know why Restaurants need water purification systems.

Some facts about rainwater harvesting in India

• India is practicing rainwater harvesting since 10th century. In 11th century, largest rainwater harvesting tank was created by Chola kings and it is 16 kilometer long.
• Average roof collects 600 gallons (2,271.2 L) of water for every inch of rainfall
• It needs minimal infrastructural changes to start rainwater harvesting.
• Filtration system and UV disinfection is needed to use this water for drinking

Advantages of rainwater harvesting

• It provides water supply other than Monsoon season.
• It is very helpful in drought condition.
• Also can be used to improve ground water reservoirs
• A step towards sustainable water supply

Simple ways of rainwater harvesting

• Simple roof water collection system, a pump and a storage tank makes basic rainwater harvesting system.
• Pump is needed to circulate water between filter, storage tank and house.
• UV disinfection systems like those offered by ALFAA UV are needed to destroy micro-organisms to make water safe for drinking.

Need and Way to Disinfect Rain Water

• Rainwater is collected from surfaces like roof and other hard surfaces. Therefore it gets contaminated in the process of storing and using.
• Rainwater collected need to be filtered before getting stored to avoid dirt and other particles.
• Before using this water it should be filtered and treated with UV to destroy microorganisms present in the water.

Centralized Water purification systems like Alfaa’s VillaPure – Whole house purification system must be used  for using this water for drinking and other purposes.