Rain water harvesting has become very much significant, in view of the realization that water has

become very  much scarce and it is going to be very critical problem in due course of time or
perhaps very shortly. Rain water  harvesting has become the talk of the town in big cities.
 
 In big cities, it is being made compulsory for large size residency to have rain water harvesting
system. For the  present, drains are being constructed with conventional materials such as
brick/stone masonry, and R.C.C. side  drains are being constructed. Rain water is made to flow
through these drains to centralized water storage tank.  From this tank, the water is expected to
be used for the nondomestic and gardening purposes. The water storage  tank is of brick masonry
or R.C.C.
 
 The drains for flow of rain water and the tank for storage of rain water is best constructed using
Ferrocement  technology, which is far superior, durable having least maintenance, least self
weight and most tidy. The  ferrocement drains are machine made precast products about 2.4 to 5
metres long with covers with perforations  of the same length about 25 mm thick. The surfaces of
these drains are very strong and not eroded by flow of  water. The bottom and sides of the water
storage tanks consist of ferrocement plates with space frame. These  plates are about 25 mm
thick, waterproof, strong, durable and have least maintenance.
 
Ferrocement Drains & Tanks Drains & Tanks of conventional material
1  The components of ferrocement  The conventional material consists of brick,
) drains,  covers and storage tank are stones,  cement mortar, plaster etc. The
machine  made  having assured R.C.C., if adopted is  cumbersome, since
quality. These are  brought  to  site shuttering, bar bending,  reinforcement
and placed manually or  using small placing,concrete and deshuttering etc.  is
crane. required to be done.
2  There is no phenomena of any  The plaster has to be applied to the drains as
) plaster  application. The well as  to the surfaces of water storage tank.
manufactured surfaces are  smooth, This plaster  gets eroded after some years
better than plaster surfaces. and it has to be redone.
3  The ferrocement has unparallel  In the case of brick masonry and stone
) feature of  waterproof quality. There masonry  drains and storage tank, leakage
are no leakages  through problems do come  up sometimes very
ferrocement drains as well as the shortly or in due course of time.
tanks. The joints are very much leak
proof.
4  Ferrocement drains and water  The brick masonry and stone masonry
) storage tank  consist of thin drains and  tanks have comparatively very
ferrocement plates about 25  mm large thicknesses and  occupy more space.
thick. There is very much large The walls of R.C.C. are also very  large as
quantum  of space saving. compared to that of ferrocement.
5  The ferrocement drains and water  No doubt the space occupied by
) storage  tanks construction saves conventional  materials is much more. This
space to a very  large extent. This is is most significant in  cities, where there is a
most significant in cities  where shortage of space.
 there is a shortage of space.
6  No manhole cover is required for  In the case of brick masonry and stone
) ferrocement drains. Covers to the masonry  drains, the covers are of small size,
ferrocement drains are removable heavy and  difficult to handle. Other portion
for  cleaning. These are 2.5 mtr. long of drain are covered  with R.C.C. slab.
and can be  easily handled.
7  Thus the cleaning of drains is most  The cleaning of drains is cumbersome and
) convenient at reasonably low cost. costly are  not satisfactory.
 
 Ferrocement channels, 2.4 m to 5 mtrs. long with perforated covers of the same length
(not shown). The  joints are leakproof. The channels are most efficient for roadside drains
and irrigation water  transportation.
 
 For urban areas i.e. cities and towns, roadside drains using Ferrocement technology is of great
advantage  avoiding inconvenience and disturbance to the public as well as traffic movement.
1)  The work at site shall reduce considerably because precasting of road side drains
along with covers  shall be carried out in precasting yard.
2)  As regards R.C.C. road side drains (a) the time taken for construction is quite large
(2) the process  of excavation, shuttering, reinforcement placing, concreting and final
laying of cover slabs is quite  cumbersome, disturbing and inconvenient to the BMC
organisation as well as the public. The quality  control is many times in doubt.
3)  The task of cleaning the drains is very much difficult, arduous and perhaps the drain
might get filled  up to almost full after a lapse of some years. The reasons being the
cleaning staff has to enter  through manhole in a space of about 10 ft. spacing and
clean. In the case of Ferrocement drains,  covers of length of 2.4 mtrs. to 3 mtrs. can
be made to handled manually or by a very light crane.  These covers can be removed,
set aside and whole drain is open for cleaning. This cleaning can be  conveniently
done by means bucket excavation. The system shall be very much efficient, subject to
easy supervision and check and may be economical.