Rain Water Harvesting
Pre-Script: This article has also been published in Youth Unite.
Sometimes, we do not need to develop wisdom by re-inventing the wheel. For centuries, rain water harvesting has been a dominant activity in our country. Be it for irrigation systems, be it in temples, be it in the backyard of ones own house. This is something that we have always been doing. But, after the concrete jungles have taken over the cities, Rainwater Harvesting has not been in the fore front of demands of any purchaser or builder of home/ apartment in urban landscapes. Do we wake up only after a large scale disaster hits us, like Los Angeles – whose case is explained in the video below?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHi4IU7JQ5Q&feature=related
Rain water harvesting in an urban landscape could be as simple as collecting the water flowing from the terraces out into the road (and causing local street flooding) into an underground tank/ sump or a cachement area which could later used for washing clothes, Cars, cooking, flushing toilets etc. (OR) Letting the rainwater flow into the ground from the terrace through multiple layers of natural filtering like broken bricks etc. which would contribute to the rise of the water tables in the area.
The following two websites have all the resources, case studies, links, community projects and all the necessary information on rainwater harvesting – particularly in India.
http://akash-ganga-rwh.com/RWH/WaterHarvesting.html
The following video is actually an advertisement for the rain water harvesting systems but has a lot of information on practical implementation of rain water harvesting. As they say, some times the advertisements are more informative and useful than the programs/serials in our television.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsV_JgLzW4w&feature=related
And if you have watched all the videos till now, do watch this one also. A nice way of putting across the message. Just to end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xtMnE9Bo6s
Do let know if you know of any interesting implementations of the rain water harvesting methods in your area.
Destination Infinity
necessity is the mother of inventions. we don't see a need to do anything until we need it. informative article.
I want to publish this on my blog too. Can I?
Hi Dinesh, that's correct. In fact, I happened to know about an international essay writing contest on Alternative energy sources, and the first prize winner actually recommended that we make the situation worse right now, when we can handle, inorder to get people to act!
Go ahead, Alka. More we popularize the concept, more people would adopt to RWH.
Destination Infinity
Thank You.
[…] wish to thank Destination Infinity for this post. I find his blog post quite interesting and […]
Some companies are working very hard on making rainwater harvesting easier and more affordable. By using tank designs that fit against a house and diverters that attach to the gutter downspout, any home can make this system fit. I hope you continue to spread word about the importance of collecting rain water.
I live in the midwest of the united states, near the Mississippi & Missouri river confluence. Rainwater harvesting is something I’ve been interested in; we just keep it simple & use 55 gallon barrels under our gutter downspouts, with a garden hose & simple water spigot retrofitted in the bottom of the barrel. A simple water test kit to ensure the chemicals using in standard house roofing shingles are not leaching into the water is used periodically. We water a small strip of flowering plants like peony & iris. It doesn’t seem to harm them. I’d love to create a water cistern in my backyard, but I flounder & fail to figure out a way to make rain runoff from our roof into a potable water supply. The problem is the roofing shingles used on the homes. The shingles are usually an asphalt & aggregate construction. Chemicals used in shingle aggregate are used to retard mold & moss growth also. That adds up to a nasty batch of chemicals leaching into the rain runoff. Invent a new roofing material or a shrink wrap for an existing roof that is not toxic to animal & human livers – I’d buy it.