Assessment of Rain Water Harvesting System

The life of the inhabitants of the globe is greatly dependant on water. Providing portable water to communities is of prime interest. Scarcity of water will be a serious threat in near future in Pakistan. There is a need to search alternate sources of water to fulfil the community water requirements. Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) system could be a better alternative due to its vast applications. Therefore, in this research study this system is applied as an alternative source of water in a small village of Abbottabad city having scarcity of water. According to PHED, the currently available gravity system and three tube wells are not sufficient to supply water to all the population of study area. Therefore, in this study, principle of rainwater harvesting system is used to quantify the water available from rainwater. Runoff was calculated using SCS curve number method for mean monthly rainfall depth. Calculations were made with predicted rainfall depth using frequency analysis as well as applying current rainfall depth fir future as well. It was found that this alternate source can overcome the water shortage in study area for both the cases, not only for current population but for future 20 years as well. Even after 20 years there will be surplus water of 299194.2 gallons per day for case 1 and 116042.18 gallons per day for case 2 will be available if stored properly. Therefore, on the basis of this study, it is recommended to the PHED of Abbottabad city for adopting RWH system for study area as well as all far flange areas where there is shortage of water.