Water Conservation by Harvesting


Water conservation by Harvesting



Rainwater harvesting is the accumulation and deposition of rainwater for reuse on-site, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater can be collected from rivers or roofs, and in many places, the water collected is redirected to a deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), a reservoir with percolation, or collected from dew or fog with nets or other tools. Its uses include water for gardens, livestock, irrigation, domestic use with proper treatment, indoor heating for houses, etc. The harvested water can also be used as drinking water, longer-term storage, and for other purposes such as groundwater recharge.

Rainwater harvesting is one of the simplest and oldest methods of self-supply of water for households usually financed by the user.





The Water Conservation Act of 2009 (also known as Senate Bill X7-7 or SB X7-7 is a California state law that requires the state to reduce urban water consumption by 20% by the year 2020. It originated as a bill written by Democratic Senator Darrell Steinberg and was enacted on November 10, 2009. The key purpose of the law is to encourage both urban and agricultural water providers to implement conservation strategies, monitor water usage, and report data to the Department of Water Resources (DWR). The law sets goals and deadlines regarding when the implementations must occur and, in an attempt to encourage participation, makes water suppliers ineligible for state water grants or loans unless certain terms have been met.



Water Conservation Area 3 (WCA-3) is the largest existing WCA covering a total of 915 square miles within Western Dade and Broward Counties. Lying Southwest of WCA-2 and just North of Everglades National Park, WCA-3 is used primarily as an area to receive flood waters from adjacent areas and store them for beneficial municipal, urban, and agricultural uses. It was subdivided into WCA-2A and WCA-2B by way of the L-67 canal and levees as a safeguard against seepage into the aquifer



Advantages

Rainwater harvesting provides an independent water supply during regional water restrictions, and in developed countries, is often used to supplement the main supply. It provides water when a drought occurs, can help mitigate flooding of low-lying areas, and reduces demand on wells which may enable groundwater levels to be sustained. It also helps in the availability of potable water, as rainwater is substantially free of salinity and other salts. Application of rainwater harvesting in urban water system provides a substantial benefit for both water supply and wastewater subsystems by reducing the need for clean water in water distribution system, less generated stormwater in sewer system, and a reduction in stormwater runoff polluting freshwater bodies.

A large body of work has focused on the development of lifecycle assessment and lifecycle costing methodologies to assess the level of environmental impacts and money that can be saved by implementing rainwater harvesting systems.

More development and knowledge is required to understand the benefits rainwater harvesting can provide to agriculture. Many countries, especially those with arid environments, use rainwater harvesting as a cheap and reliable source of clean water. To enhance irrigation in arid environments, ridges of soil are constructed to trap and prevent rainwater from running down hills and slopes. Even in periods of low rainfall, enough water is collected for crops to grow. Water can be collected from roofs, and dams and ponds can be constructed to hold large quantities of rainwater so that even on days when little to no rainfall occurs, enough is available to irrigate crops




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