An Introduction to water crisis
Brief on Rain Water Harvesting
Water- Do we need to give the word a thought.
Water is an important ingredient for
Planet Earth contains 320 million cubic
miles of water, enough to cover the
entire globe 1000 feet deep.
Yet fresh water is a very scarce global
Only 0.02% of the Earth's water is
available for drinking.
Only Availability of Water on Planet
Mars can prove the existence of Life.
Water- why are we getting so much concerned?
“Water water every where but not a drop to drink”.
Immense Exploitation of our Natural resources
Industrialization and Development has exploited our nature and Natural
Resources for their benefits.
Rivers a source of drinking water are polluted.
Lakes and Ponds are either polluted or reclaimed.
Underground water being the last resort is now being tapped rigorously for
• It’s the primary Source of Water.
• It’s the Purest form of water available
for drinking purposes.
But it is not utilised and it go waste
into the drains and gets
Its is than drawn out from rivers and
lakes filtered and purified and than
pumped to our household for our
Rain Water gets logged in our urban
areas causing urban flooding and
• Cheerapunji receives about 11000mm of rainfall annually
compared to 570mm rainfall annually at Agra.
Cheerapunji suffers from acute drinking water shortage
as the rain water is not conserved for and allowed to
drain away. So is our city, most of the household or
rather 75% are dependent on the tubewells and bore
wells. The rate at which we are extracting the
Underground source of water is depleting the Levels of
underground wateraquifiers and soon the water levels
underground are going to diminish for our future
generations to come.
Rain Water Harvesting
• With the accent on conservation rather than distribution,
Rain Water Harvesting provides a very effective
technical solution to this problem of Water Crisis.
• Water availability is no longer dependent on expensive
and unreliable lift water schemes, or insufficient
• Rainwater harvesting systems are proving to be a very
simple solution to the water problem as it catches the
water where it falls.
Rain Water Harvesting- An Introduction
• In general, water harvesting is the activity
of direct collection of rain water. The
rainwater thus collected can be stored for
direct use or can be recharged into ground
• Rain is the first form of water that we know
in the Hydrological cycle, hence is the
primary source of water for us.
Need to Augment Ground Water Resource
•To overcome the inadequacy of surface water to meet our
•To arrest decline in ground water levels.
•To enhance availability of ground water at specific place and time
and utilize rain water for sustainable development.
•To increase infiltration of rain water in the subsoil which has
decreased drastically in urban areas due to paving of open areas.
•To improve ground water quality by dilution.
•To increase Agriculture production.
•To improve ecology of the area by increase n vegetation cover etc.
•Hydrology of the Area – nature and extent of Aquifer, Soil Cover,
Topography, depth to water level and chemical quality of ground water
•Availability of Source Water- Monsoon Runoff
•Area Available for Recharge.
•Hydrometer logical Character- Rainfall Duration, General Pattern and
intensity of Rain fall
•Where Ground water levels are declining
•Where Substantial amount of aquifer has been de-saturated.
•Where availability of ground water is inadequate in lean months
•Where due to rapid urbanization, infiltration of rain water into subsoil has
decreased drastically and recharging of ground water has diminished.
Rain Water Harvesting- How to Harvest Rain Water
• How to harvest rain?
• Harvesting System
Broadly rainwater can be harvested for two purposes
Storing rainwater for ready use in containers above or below ground
Charged into the soil for withdrawal later (groundwater recharging)
Methods & Techniques
The Methods of Ground Water recharge mainly are.
Roof Top Rain Water/Storm runoff harvesting through
A. Recharge Pit
B. Recharge Trenches
C. Tube well
D. Recharge well.
a. Gully Plug
b. Contour Bund
c. Gabion Structure
d. Percolation Tanks
e. Check Dam
g. Dug well
h. Ground Water Dams
Rain Water Harvesting- How to Harvest Rain Water
Rainwater can be harvested from the following surfaces
• Rooftops: House, Commercial Complexes institutions etc.
• Paved and unpaved areas i.e., landscapes, open fields, parks,
stormwater drains, roads and pavements and other open areas
• Waterbodies: The potential of lakes, tanks and ponds to store
rainwater is immense.
• Stormwater drains: Most of the residential colonies have proper
network of stormwater drains. If maintained neatly, these offer a
simple and cost effective means for harvesting rainwater.
Rain Water Harvesting- Store or Recharge
• Whether to store rainwater or use it for recharge:
Depends on the rainfall pattern and the potential to do so, in a particular
region. The sub-surface geology also plays an important role in making this
• In places like Kerala, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu and Bangalore where rain falls
throughout the year barring a few dry periods, one can depend on a small
sized tank for storing rainwater, since the period between two spells of rain
• Wherever sub-strata is impermeable recharging will not be feasible. Hence,
it would be ideal to opt for storage.
• In places where the groundwater is saline or not of potable standards, the
alternate system could be that of storing rainwater.
Rain Water Harvesting- Should we Store or Recharge?
• In Agra where the total annual rainfall occurs during 3 or 4 months, Hence
groundwater recharge is usually practiced.
Rainfall Pattern of AGRA
Rain Water Harvesting- Potential and Scope
Potential of rooftop water availability in Agra
Roof Area in Sq.m
Annual rainfall in (liters)
Quantity of rainfall
available for harvesting
(Note: a. Annual average rainfall of AGRA=590 mm; b. runoff coefficient is assumed as
0.60;Sq. m to be read as square meter). An analysis done based on the rainfall
availability and demand supply gap shows that even 50 per cent of the rainwater
harvested could help in bridging the demand supply gap
Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting through Recharge Pit
Recharge Pit May be of any
Shape or Size. Desirably 1-2
m Wide and 2-3 m Deep
Back filled with Boulders,
Gravel and Coarse sand in
Suitable for Small Structures
Roof Top Harvesting Through Recharge Trenches
Recharge Trenches May Be of any
Shape or Size. Desirably 0.5-1 m
Wide and 1-2 m Deep and 25-100 m
Long depending on the capacity of
Back filled with Boulders, Gravel and
Coarse sand in Graded Form.
Suitable for Medium Structures and
0f 1000-2500Sq m
Roof Top Harvesting Through Tube wells and Dug wells
and Bore wells Can
effectively be used for
It Serves as a very
effective measure to
cater to recharging
facility for campuses
Rain Water Harvesting Through Contour Bunds
Suitable for Low Rain Fall Areas
where monsoon run off can be
impounded by constructing bunds
on Sloping Ground
Flowing Water is intercepted before
it Attains erosive velocity.
Rain Water Harvesting Through Gabion Structures and
It is kind of check dam commonly
constructed along streams to conserve
The excess water overflows this
structure storing some water to serve
as a source for recharging
Rain Water Harvesting Through Percolation Tanks and
Percolation Tank is artificially created
surface water body in a highly
permeable land so that surface runoff
is made to percolate and recharge the
ground water storage.
A Recharge Shaft Can Serve as the
Most Efficient and Cost effective
techniques to recharge unconfined
aquifer overlain by poorly permeable
Role of Citizens
• The most important role in this Has to be
of the Inhabitants.
• The initiative by each individual/ Social
Organizations and Resident Welfare
Associations for augmenting Rain Water
Role of Authorities
The Local Authorities have to play the most strategic role in
the initiative for Implementation of this Scheme .
Proper guidelines should be framed for the implementation
of the RWH both at micro and macro level.
Awareness Programmers for disseminating the importance
of RWH for sustainability.
Incentive and Rebates in Taxes for promoting the
Creating Panel of consultants and Experts to monitor the
Rain Water Harvesting for overcoming Urban Flooding in
the Areas of Ram Nagar and MG road
Objective of the study is to counter the problem of urban flooding during Rains
at the junction of
Bagh Muzaffarkhan Crossing
Nagar Nigam Crossing
Ram Nagar Colony and Front of St. Paul’s Church and VC Residence
Identifying the Sources of Problem
1. The flow of sewer lines is combined with Rain Water Drains for all the
constructed areas. Hence during the rain the amount of water
passing through these sewer exceeds its capacity thereby over
flowing at the low lying junctions.
2. The storm water drains provided of the catchment of the surface
runoff also becomes insufficient to cater to the sudden down pour
because of its decreasing capacity due to siltation and choking due to
3. Rain water from rooftop of the Ram Nagar Colony , bagh
Muzaffarkhan, civil lines , Nehru Nagar, shah talkies , Surya Nagar,
Hariparbat and parts of Wazirpura , Sanjay Place and near by Areas
flows into the sewage Drain culminating at the Junction of Ram Nagar
Crossing / Nagar and Sanjay Place.
4. The surface drain of the Area as marked in the Enclosed Map
Describes the Surface Run Off the Adjoining areas being directed
towards the trough region created in the front of Nagar Nigam and
Ram Bagh Colony Road
5. The Problem of flooding occurs due to excessive flow of the
nearby surrounding rainwater flowing into the sewer from the
adjoining areas, the capacity of the drains to cater to the flow being
not sufficient results in the overflow of the drains and flooding
junctions in low level areas.
6. The level of the water in the final discharge drains thereby
stopping the outflow and results in water logging in low lying areas
untill the water level decreases in the final discharge drains and
letting the water flow from the low lying areas
Approach to the problem
Identifying the water catchments affecting the area of urban flooding.
Determining the quantities of the flow of water during the Rainfall.
Water sampling and testing for the contents and contamination of the surface
runoff and overflow from drains and sewage. At all points considered for
Determining the geological strata’s and aquifer levels, quality, content and
Identifying areas and points for recharging of the storm water.
Developing viable technologies for filtration and treatment before recharging in
accordance to the water sample test reports.
Formatting guidelines for the operations and maintenance of the system
1. Design of drain based to only allow the flow of water and not
the sewage and garbage.
2. Designing systems using locally available technologies for
easy maintenance and Operations.
3. Integrating the storm drains in the street fabric and existing
buildings thereby making its implementation easier.
A Story of A well doing Water Harvesting
A well In Front Of
In Shambles and
Garbage from the
up in the Area
The Well in Infested with Garbage.
Poisioning the Under Ground Water Source.
The Water in the radius of around 500m in toxicated high Percentage of
Chemicals and is so acidic that it burns the vegetation if used.