Rain water harvesting

7 RAIN WATER HARVESTING

7.1 Introduction

Rainwater harvesting refers to the collection, storage and use of rainwater at household,
institutional or community level for drinking, cooking, cleaning, small-scale agriculture and
livestock rearing.

The use of rainwater harvesting has declined around the world as a result of provision of large,
centralized water supply schemes such as dam building projects, groundwater
developments and piped water distribution systems. However, traditional water resources are
becoming more increasingly polluted due man‘s activities. There is therefore a need to
integrate RWH as a part of the urban and rural water management systems in order to meet the
water needs of today.

7.2 Benefits of rain harvested water

Harvested rain water has a lot of potential benefits:

1. It reduces the pressure on the centralized water supply and distribution infrastructure.
To some degree, the main water supply can even be substituted by harvested water.
2. Rainwater reservoirs can act as attenuation devices, reducing both peak flow rates and
effective runoff volumes especially in urban areas. RWH systems can therefore be
part of the sustainable drainage systems techniques to reduce risk of flooding.
3. RWH systems save energy that would otherwise have been used to distribute water to
the users. This helps to conserve energy for the future.
4. Reduces on the high expenditures on treatment of water extracted from rivers and
lakes.
5. Rain harvested water is, to some extent, generally free from man-made pollutants.

Other benefits include:

· Saves on water bills at home. It acts as an alternative source of water
· Rain harvested water is suitable for irrigation and can provide water for crops during
the dry season.
· It reduces demand on groundwater especially in areas where surface water is scarce
· Rain water harvesting systems are easy to maintain.

7.3 Components of a Rain water harvesting system

The main components of a RWHS are:

1. Catchment area or surface
2. Collection system or conveyance
3. Storage facilities or reservoir, and
4. Delivery method.

The figure below illustrates these components.

 Rain water harvesting

Source: DTU, 1999)

7.3.1 Catchment area and effective runoff

The catchment area is the surface from which water runoffs and is collected. The catchment
area is in most cases the roof of a house or a building.

The roof catchment area is based on the "foot print" of the roof which is calculated as:

Catchment area, A = L x W

Roof top catchment areas (source: TWDB, 2005)

The type and size of the catchment determines the amount of rain water that can be harvested
and hence this determines the storage capacity.

The design of a RWHS requires the determination of the optimal size of the catchment, which
would yield the adequate water to satisfy the anticipated demand.
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Effective runoff is the water that flows from the catchment area minus the losses. There are
generally two methods commonly used to estimate effective runoff:

I. Using the runoff coefficient method

Runoff volume, V
t = CR.I t.A

Where: CR = dimensionless runoff coefficient

It = volume of rainfall in time, t
A = catchment area.

The runoff coefficient (CR) depends on the type of roof material and the pitch.
Indicative values of C
R are given below:

II. Using initial losses

Runoff = rainfall - initial losses

The initial losses are defined as the minimum rainfall depth below which no runoff
occurs.

7.3.2 The collection system

It consists of gutters and downpipes that deliver water falling on the roof top to the storage
devices or the reservoir. The devices should be chemically inert materials such as wood, PVC,
aluminum, galvanised steel etc to avoid effects on the water quality.
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7.3.3 Rainwater storage / reservoir

The storage is where water is stored. The tank regulates the natural inflows through storage and
provides outflows at a more regular rate.

Suitable materials for a storage reservoir are reinforced concrete (also called Ferro cement),
stainless steel, fiberglass (plastic reinforced with glass), galvanized steel and plastic.

Data required to size a tank:

 Rainfall
 Catchment area
 Water demand
The storage required should be equal to the volume of water required to meet the water
requirements throughout the period needed. It depends on the hydrology of the catchment as
well as other factors such as personal preference, budget and initial costs.

Sizing a rain water tank reservoir

There are two common methods used to size a water tank:

(i) Demand side approach
Here, the reservoir size is determined using the dry season demand and the supply.
This method is more relevant in areas with distinct dry seasons.

Assumptions:
 Rainfall is sufficient
 Catchment area is adequate
 Reservoir is completely full on the last day of the rain.

Storage (Liters/month) = (water use per day x number of people x 365) / 12

The required storage = storage per month x longest average dry period in months

(ii) Supply side approach

This method uses the mass curve analysis where excess rainfall during some months
of the year may be stored to meet demand during the months when less water is
available.

Here the cumulative rainfall runoff graph is plotted along with the cumulative water
demand throughout the year. The greatest difference between the two graphs is
the storage requirement for the short fall during the dry period.

(iii)Reservoir capacity-yield procedure

These methods examine the behavior of the system including relationship between
storage, demand, catchment area, reliability, storage and irrigable area. Examples of
these methods include (a) statistical methods (b) simulation analysis - by
simulating operation of the reservoir.
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Upon completion, a rain water tank should have:

 A secure cover
 A course inlet filter
 Over flow pipe
 A drain for cleaning
 A soak away for spilled water
 A device to indicate the water level
 Sediment traps/foul flush mechanism

7.4 Rain water quality

Although rain water is clean, several types of contaminants can be present including heavy
metals, micro-organism, pesticides, organic matter etc. These pollutants mainly originate from
atmospheric deposition and faecal dropping from bids.

For water to be treated and used in home tap water, roofing materials that contain asphalt or
galvanized metal are not suitable. Aluminum is the best.

Roof water harvesting therefore presents a hostile environment for microbiological, chemical
and physical contamination:

(a) Microbiological contamination

This contamination mainly originates from faeces of a bird or small animals that have access to
the roof surface or the tank. Analyses of harvested rain water for microbiological
contamination should always be undertaken. These analyses mainly include salmonella and
Ecoli (indicator organisms). Sometimes, the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) or BOD are
measured to give an indication of the organic matter content.

For disinfection in an urban rain water harvesting system, ozone, chlorination and solar ultra
violet UV purification can be used. Care must be taken if chlorination is used on water with high
DOC values because of the risks cancerous products.

(b) Chemical contamination.

Chemical contamination mainly refers to dissolved minerals in harvested rainwater. Most times,
rainwater is acidic and it can cause dissolution of the roof and storage materials into water.
There are also risks of heavy metal contamination and sulphur is normally reported. These
heavy metals may originate from the atmosphere especially in highly polluted areas, from
material leached from the roof (e.g. zinc and lead) or from material deposited on the roof.
Asbestos roofs are highly discouraged for rainwater harvesting because they have been
shown to cause cancer (of the lung and stomach).

(c) Physical contamination

This mainly refers to suspended solids that make the water turbid. They mainly include
suspended metals, dust and bird droppings. These are usually assessed by measuring turbidity of
the harvested rain water
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7.4.1 Technologies to improve quality of rain harvested water

(a) Leaf screens

Leaf screens remove debris (such as tree leaves) that gather on the catchment surface. Care
should always be taken to avoid these screens from getting blocked otherwise they will not be
effective.

(b) First-flush diversion

A first-flush diversion is a device used to protect the storage reservoir from contamination by
the first-flush runoff.

The first rains usually drain contaminants that either lie on the catchment surface (e.g.
atmospheric deposits, bird droppings, leaves and debris) or that are scoured from the
surrounding sky (e.g. dust). This first drain is what we call the first-flush.

A first-flush diverter therefore improves rain water quality remarkably (especially turbidity)
by removing the first-flush runoff.

Several studies suggest that removal of the first 0.5 mm is sufficient to reduce faecal
coliforms count in harvested rain water to zero (e.g. Yaziz et al., 1989). But other studies
have shown that up to 2 mm may be required in areas with a lot of pollution.

An example of a first-flush diverter (source: www.aquabarrel.com)

Another example of a first-flush diverter (source: http://www.home-heating-systems-and-

solutions.com/)

Example:
Design the required length of the first-flush diverter for a house with a roof catchment area of
7 x 14 m.

(c) Using filters

Filters are used to enhance the biological and physical quality of rain water. They can be located
before, in and after the storage reservoir. Examples include slow sand filters, within drain filters
or inline charcoal filters etc.
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Fig. A rainwater harvesting system at Kitante primary school, fitted with a first-flush diverter

7.5 Rainwater Harvesting in Agriculture

Rainwater harvesting provides an alternative source of water for improving agricultural

production especially in semi-arid environmental that face long dry seasons. However, to
perform well, the system has to be optimized taking into account the crop water needs and the
supply from rainfall.

Rainwater harvesting as a supplementary irrigation systems is particularly very economical

for improving agricultural production and livelihoods for small holder farmers in drought
prone areas.

However, it has been shown that the performance of these small scale irrigation systems
require provision as an auxiliary storage reservoir.

References:

Yaziz, M.I., H. Gunting, N. Sapari, and A.W. Ghazali. 1989. Variations in rainwater
quality from roof catchments. Water Research. 23: 761-765