A review on sustainability of

rainwater harvesting with

Especial reference to Nepal
Manoj kumar jha, khet raj dahal and subik Shrestha

Presented by : Mozim Shafi

Center for energy and environmental engineering
Nit hamirpur
Abstract

 Safe clean water is very important for better health and for the survival of
human beings

 Due to severe water shortage at many places people are forced to use
unsafe water for one or the other purpose

 In Nepal, due to country’s geography, there are many places especially in

rural area and at high altitudes conventional water supply systems are
challenging to implement.

 At such places, as an alternate solution, rainwater harvesting system can

be used to meet the demand of the water.

 administrative, financial and technical aspects must be strong for a

sustainable rainwater harvesting systems in the rural areas of Nepal.
Introduction
 Rainwater harvesting is a multipurpose way of supplying usable water to
consumers during a crisis period, recharging the groundwater and finally
reducing the runoff and water logging during the season of heavy rainfall.
 Water from different rooftops of a lane can also be collected through a
piped network and stored for some time. This water can be then
channeled to deep wells to recharge groundwater directly, to ponds to
replenish groundwater slowly, and to reservoirs to dilute reclaimed water for
no potable use.
 Unless it comes into contact with a surface or collection system, the quality
of rainwater meets Environmental Protection Agency standards and the
independent characteristic of its harvesting system has made it suitable for
scattered settlement and individual operation. If needed, a chemical
treatment such as chlorination can be used to purify the water
 The acceptance of rainwater harvesting will expand rapidly if methods are
treated such as building services and if designed into the structure instead
of being retrofitted
 Roof collection area

Gutter

Downspout

Overflow

valve
First

flush

filter
Storage

tank

Clean
Hose bib
out
Bottom
plug
full valve

Figure 8: Schematic of a rainwater harvesting system.

Benefits of rain water harvesting

 it can curtail the burden on the public water supply, which is the main
source of city water

 it can be used in case of an emergency (i.e., fire)

 it is solely cost effective as installation cost is low, and it can reduce

expense that one has to pay for water bills

 it extends soil moisture levels for development of vegetation

 groundwater level is highly recharged during rainfall

Regional perspective of rain water harvesting

 The domestic rain water harvesting is viable for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, North
east part of Asia, Nepal, Central and eastern, coastal part of southern India as
in these area precipitation levels are always high
 Sri Lanka central government has formulated the policy of making rainwater
harvesting system mandatory at all levels of the governance systems; municipal
level, urban council level
 In Bangladesh, people along the coastal area and in the rural area practice
the rain water harvesting which is a great logical alternative solution for arsenic
contamination of ground water. Almost 28% population of Bangladesh people
live at the coastal areas where safe drinking water supply is always an issue.
 During monsoon a big volume of water goes down to the drainage in the
coastal area settlement. It can be stored using rain water harvesting
techniques.
 A few number of wells and ponds with drinkable water are functional where
people are meeting their demands with rainwater collected from its harvesting
It is to be mentioned that since 1997, about 1000 rainwater harvesting systems
have been implemented in the rural areas of Bangladesh by the NGO forum of
drinking water supply and sanitation whose primary objective is to improve
access to safe water and sanitation services in the country.
 The capacity of constructed tank varies from 500 liters to 3200 liters whose
cost from 50 USD to 150 USD.
 It can be Ferro-cement tank, brick tank, RCC ring tank and sub-surface
tank.
 Local users have accepted rain water as they feel that it is easy to use, safe
and they are using this for cooking, drinking and other domestic uses and is
good from quality point of view as well. Tests have shown that it can be
safe for four to five months without bacterial contamination.
 In India, about 85% of drinking water, 50%of irrigation water and 33% of
domestic use water comes from extraction of ground water through wells
and dug wells. This causes a fall in water table over large no of districts.
 In 1996, sixty five thousand villages of India were without water sources. All
this creates a need of exploring rainwater harvesting to alleviate the
decline of water table
 Government of India is promoting rain water harvesting system as a
compulsion to every house hold especially in urban and rural area which
has shown good result. As result, cities are now having rain water harvesting
system; as like Chennai alone has fifty thousand rain water harvesting
systems
Scenario of rain water harvesting in Nepal
 Rain water harvesting has been practiced since thousands of year in Nepal
and so are the people in upper hills.
 In 1996, the first systematic roof top rain water harvesting system was
implemented on a large scale in Gulmi district supported by Government
of Nepal and Government of Finland. After its successful implementation, it
has been implemented all over the country.
 Many government organizations working in the country helped the
government in doing it. The major donors and implementing agencies that
support the replication of rain water harvesting in Nepal are, Water aid
Nepal, Nepal water for health (NEWAH), Rural water supply and sanitation
fund development board (RWSSDFB), Department of Water Supply and
Sewage (DWSS), Department of Urban Development and Building
Construction( DUDOBC), Department of local infrastructure development
and development board (DOLIDAR) and many NGOs
 There are around 11,000 RWH systems in use in hilly regions of Nepal and the
users satisfactory level is reported as 78 percent with these RWH systems
 Water quality
 Sustainability of water from public health point of view is determined by its microbiological, physical and
chemical characteristics
 The standard is set by Government of Nepal in accordance with WHO
S NO Parameters National Standard WHO Standard
1 Temperature Normal Normal
2 order unobjectionable unobjectionable
3 taste unobjectionable unobjectionable

4 color 5(15) TCU 5(15) TCU

5 turbidity 5(10) NTU 5(10) NTU
6 pH 6.5-8.5* 6.5-8.5
7 ammonia 1.5 1.5
8 Iron 0.3 (3) 0.3
9 hardness 500 500
10 Coli form bacteria Not to be present Not to be present
Conclusion

 Water shortage is one of the critical problems in Nepal. This problem is not
new one, and it cannot be solved overnight.
 As we rely on groundwater abstraction through deep tube wells to
overcome the excessive demand, the water table is lowering day by day,
and the recharge of groundwater table is facing difficulties.
 Rainwater harvesting is an effective option not only to recharge the
groundwater aquifer but also to provide adequate storage of water for
future use.
 This paper tried to focus on the sustainability and effectiveness of a
rainwater harvesting system
 The small and medium residential and commercial construction can adopt
this system as sustainable option of providing water.
Thank You