Research Article Construction and Evaluation of …downloads.hindawi.com/archive/2014/751952.pdfComponents of RWH Systems. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems have three basic components

Research ArticleConstruction and Evaluation of RainwaterHarvesting System for Domestic Use in a Remote andRural Area of Khulna Bangladesh

Biplob Kumar Biswas and Bablu Hira Mandal

Department of Chemical Engineering Jessore University of Science and Technology Jessore 7408 Bangladesh

Correspondence should be addressed to Biplob Kumar Biswas biplobbiswas2009gmailcom

Received 4 April 2014 Revised 31 May 2014 Accepted 3 June 2014 Published 14 September 2014

Academic Editor Maurice Millet

Copyright copy 2014 B K Biswas and B H Mandal This is an open access article distributed under the Creative CommonsAttribution License which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work isproperly cited

Scarcity of pure drinking water during the dry season (NovemberndashMarch) is a major problem in Bangladesh which needs to beaddressedThis crisis has been further aggravated due to surging populations Rainwater can provide some of the cleanest naturallyoccurring water and can hold a great potential in dealing with the current challenge of acute arsenic poisoning as well as physicalwater scarcity in many parts of Bangladesh In this connection rainwater harvesting (RWH) system has been constructed in a veryremote and rural village in Khulna Bangladesh for a 4-membered household It consists of a concrete catchment of 40m2 areaa supporting and collection system made of PVC pipes and two locally available plastic storage tanks having capacity of 2000 LeachThe study also investigates the quality aspects of the stored rainwater which include measurement of pH alkalinity hardnesstotal dissolved solids (TDS) iron chloride nitrate and turbidity using standard methods The results showed that not only thequality of harvested rainwater is good but also the amount of water is enough for a 4-membered household to meet its domesticuse throughout the year

1 Introduction

Water that covers about 70 of earthrsquos surface is an essentialsubstance for the nature and the ecosystem of the world Ithas a number of unique chemical and physical propertiesthat make it indispensable to life and in fact it makes upabout 60 of adult body weight [1 2] Water is reported to begrouped into atmospheric surface and ground water whereatmospheric water includes moisture contained in the cloudwhich precipitates as snow and rain [3] Rain water on theother hand is a form of precipitation in which liquid waterfalls to the earthrsquos surface [3] Rainwater and snowmelt arethought to be the primary sources of all drinking water in thisworld [4]

About 975 of all water on earth is salt water leavingonly 25 as fresh water which can be found in variousforms such as glaciers and permafrost and groundwaterand surface as well as atmospheric water [5 6] So it isevident that fresh water though renewable is a limited

resource Reports revealed that 768million people worldwidelack access to safe water which is often termed as physicalwater scarcity [7] whereas 18 billion people are predictedto live in regions with absolute water scarcity by 2025 [8]This has happened due to unplanned management of waterresources insufficient planning and insufficient political willWater scarcity is therefore thought to be a serious problemthroughout the world and mitigating this problem is one ofthe biggest challenges of the 21st century [9]TheMillenniumDevelopment Goalrsquos (MDG) target 7C calls for reducing byhalf the proportion of the population without sustainableaccess to safe drinkingwater and basic sanitation by 2015 [10]

Lack of access to safe drinking water is an increasingproblem in the southwestern coastal areas of Bangladeshwhere salinity in ground and surface water and arsenic as wellas iron contamination of shallow aquifers are supposed to bethe two major concerns for this Such problems are consid-ered to be significant barriers to improving community healthand reducing poverty In pursuit of having drinking water

Hindawi Publishing CorporationInternational Scholarly Research NoticesVolume 2014 Article ID 751952 6 pageshttpdxdoiorg1011552014751952

2 International Scholarly Research Notices

people often rely on fresh water pond which is normallypreserved by the local community But nowadays freshwaterponds are also not available due to horizontal saline intrusionin the coastal area Therefore people particularly womenand girls are to travel up to several kilometers for collectingwater for drinking which means that a significant num-ber of productive hours are consumed Moreover this hasimpacts on womenrsquos safety girlsrsquo education health risks andmicroeconomy of individual family However after the hitof Cyclone-Sidr in November 2007 and Cyclone-Aila in May2009 all water sources became dysfunctional and sanitationfacilities were either destroyed or damaged by tidal surgein the coastal areas of Bangladesh Therefore the existingfresh water sources both surface and groundwater becamecontaminated by either salinity or bacteria [11]

Drinking water is generally obtained from two sourcesgroundwater (wells boreholes etc) and surfacewater (riverslakes etc) However these sources account for only 40 oftotal precipitation as depicted by WaterAid [12] Thus it isevident that there are considerable scopes for the collection ofrainwater when it falls The potential of rainwater harvesting(RWH) and the urgency of mitigating water-scarcity relatedproblems are also confirmed by the fact thatmany researchersare working on these issues RWH is a simple technique ofcollecting rainwater instantlymaking sure that it does not runoff into river or stream or does not soak into the ground ordoes not become contaminated [4 13] Such technique hasbeen practiced for centuries However a low-cost and easy-to-maintain water supply system in difficult geohydrologicalareas is very much in demand to ensure a sustainabledevelopment In this regard RWH can be considered as aprobable solution of drinking water crisis in arsenic affectedareas saline zone in the coastal areas and areas prone togroundwater depletion Ghisi et al showed a huge potentialof potable water savings and preservation of water resourcesthrough RWH in asmany as 62 cities in Brazil [14] Rainwateris free from salinity as well as arsenic contamination andis safe too if it is maintained hygienically The physicalchemical and bacteriological characteristics of harvestedrainwater usually represent a suitable and acceptable standardof potable water Harvested rainwater can be used not onlyin drinking purposes but also in cooking washing andbathing The main limitation of this option is nonavailabilityof rain water around the year But it can be widely used assupplementary source if rainwater is properly stored in rainyseason

The geographic location of Bangladesh is very uniquehaving the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean to thesouth and the Himalayas to the north Because of suchphysical location a tropical monsoon climate prevails inBangladesh that has made it one of the wettest countries ofthe world Therefore climate of Bangladesh is characterizedby difference in wind pattern and variation in rainfall (withhigh rainfall from April to September) The mean annualrainfall in Bangladesh is about 2320mm [15] while that inKhulna district is about 1800mm [16] Theoretically 20 ofthe total rainfall might satisfy almost the whole of Dhakacityrsquos demand collected during the monsoon [17] Based onsuch data and information it can be predicted that rainfall

A Bajua Khulna

Figure 1 Location of the research site [18]

that occurred in Khulna area could well satisfy the demandof a small household of a rural area Bajua near Sundarbanof Khulna district in Bangladesh if it is efficiently harvestedTherefore the objectives of this study are to construct aRWH system for domestic use in a small household of arural area (Bajua) of Khulna to evaluate the effectiveness ofthe rainwater harvesting system and to monitor the quality(physical as well as chemical) of harvested rainwater as wellas to assess the acceptability of rainwater use for domesticpurpose

2 Materials and Methods

21 The Research Site The research site Bajua a rural villageof Khulna district in Bangladesh is situated at the southernpart of Khulna district and is nearly 46 km away fromKhulnaMetropolitan area Bajua is selected as the study area becausethe area has extensive scarcity of pure drinking water It islocated at 22∘3510158401015840 latitude and 89∘56910158401015840 longitude and is nearthe Sundarban one of the famousworld heritage site declaredby UNESCO A location map is shown in Figure 1 [18] Asmentioned above the mean annual rainfall in this area isabout 1800mm [16]

22 Methodology The study was conducted through somesequential steps which were necessary to abide by for obtain-ing scientific outcome The methodology of this study wasconfined to in-depth field observation 20 years mean rainfalldata analyses (1989ndash2008) calculation of water demand percapita of the studied household collection storage and usageof harvested water of that household and laboratory testsThe field observation showed that the studied locality has asevere problem of shortage of pure drinking water which isinstigated for selecting the study area However the studywasconducted during the period from April 2011 to September2012 Rainfall data for a period of 20 years (1989ndash2008) was

International Scholarly Research Notices 3

collected from Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council[16]

A RWH systemwas constructed by using locally availablecomponents The RWH system used in this study was com-posed of three basic components roof catchment supportingcollection system (gutter screenroof washer and flushingsystem) and storage tank Harvested water was tested inlaboratory

23 Estimating Domestic Water Demand Estimating domes-tic water demand in reality is not so easy Children andadults use different amounts of water and seasonal water usevaries with more water being used in the summer seasonThe number of householdmembers staying at homemay alsovary at different times of the year because during religiousas well as local cultural festivals relatives used to visit andstay at home By estimating the average daily water use thesevariables should be taken into account Although harvestedrain water can be used in drinking cooking washing andbathing purposes it is used only for drinking cooking andfood preparation purposes in the studied household Thishas been approximated due to the fact that for livelihooddrinking as well as cooking water is thought to be moreimportant Based on this idea Harun and Kabir [19] havelately investigated performance of pond sand filter (PSF) inmeeting water demand for cooking and drinking purposein southwest coastal belt of Bangladesh Thus total waterdemand in the studied household is estimated to be about6 Lpersonday [20]The number of persons in the householdstudied is four So the daily water demand for the studiedhousehold is 6 times 4 = 24 L However assuming five monthsas the longest average dry period the storage requirementfor drinking cooking and food preparation is 24 times 30 times 5= 3600 L

24 Catchment Area and Runoff Coefficient (RC) One of theimportant components of RWH systems is catchment whichis used for holding rainwater Roofs provide an ideal catch-ment surface for harvesting rainwater provided that they areclean The roof surface may be constructed of many differentmaterials which include but are not limited to concrete tilesgalvanized corrugated iron sheets and corrugated plasticIf a building or house with an impermeable roof which isresistant to rain is already in place the catchment area isavailable free of charge The studied household is a one-storied building having a concrete roofThe approximate sizeof the existing roof catchment area is 102m2 out of which40m2 was guttered and therefore used for holding rainwater

The collection of rain water is usually represented bya runoff coefficient (RC) The runoff coefficient for anycatchment is the ratio of the volume of water that runsoff a surface to the volume of rainfall that falls on thesurface A runoff coefficient of 08 means that 80 of therainfall will be collected So the higher the runoff coefficientthe more the rain that will be collected The roof runoffcoefficient varies significantly on the basis of roof materialslope of the roof and so forth The roof material does notonly determine the runoff coefficient it also influences the

Table 1 Runoff coefficients for traditional roofing materials

Type Runoff coefficientGalvanized iron sheet gt09Corrugated metal sheet 07ndash09Tiles 08-09Concrete 06ndash08Brick pavement 05-06Rocky natural catchment 02ndash05Soil with slope 00ndash03Green area 005ndash01

water quality of the harvested rainwater Painted roofs aresometimes used for rainwater collection but it is importantthat the paint be nontoxic and does not cause water pollutionAn impermeable roof will yield a high runoff of good qualitywater that can be used for all domestic purposes cookingwashing drinking and so forth Table 1 shows typical runoffcoefficients for different types of catchment [5 9] Howevera runoff coefficient of 08 was adopted in this study forthe calculation of potential rainwater harvested from thecatchment area

25 How Much Water Can Be Harvested The quantity ofwater that runs off a roof into gutter system is usuallycalculated using the following equation [21]

119876 = RC times 119877 times 119860 (1)

where119876 is the quantity of water that runs off RC is the runoffcoefficient 119877 is the total rainfall (mmy) and 119860 is the roofarea or the catchment area (m2)

Since RC is 08 (as adopted for this study)119877 is 1800mmy(for Khulna region) and 119860 is 40m2 the quantity of water(119876) that runs off (supply) is 576m3y (asymp57600 Ly) Thus theamount of water that can be harvested is 157 Lday Howeverassuming four months as the rainy season the amount thatcan be harvested during this period is 157 times 30 times 4 = 18840 Lwhich is more than enough for storing required amount ofwater (3600 L) for drinking cooking and food preparationpurposes for the studied household

26 Components of RWH Systems Rainwater harvesting(RWH) systems have three basic components which are (i)catchment area (ii) supporting collection system and (iii)storage tank

261 Catchment Area Catchment area has already been dis-cussed in an earlier section (Section 24)

262 Supporting Collection System The harvested waterfrom a catchment area needs to be transported to the storagereservoir or tank through a system of gutters and pipesThe rule of thumb of designing gutter is that 1 cm2 guttercross section would be constructed for 1m2 roof surface[9 22] Even though several types of delivery systems existfor guttering commonly used materials for gutters and


Table 2 Physicochemical characteristics of harvested rainwater

Parameter (unit) Used methods Harvested rainwater Bangladesh drinking water quality standards WHO standardsChloride (mgL) Mohrrsquos 650 150ndash600 200ndash300Iron (mgL) Colorimetric 011 030ndash100 03Nitrate (mgL) Cd reduction 040 50 50pH Membrane electrode 672 65ndash85 68ndash73Turbidity (NTU) Spectrophotometric lt100 600 50TDS (mgL) Conductivity 12 500ndash1000 1000Total hardness (mgL) EDTA lt10 500 40Alkalinity (mgL) Mohrrsquos 50 50 40

downpipes are galvanised metal and plastic (PVC) pipeswhich are readily available in local shops Apart from thatsplit bamboo which is an indigenous product can also beused for this purpose A well-designed gutter system canincrease the longevity of a house In this study PVC pipe wasused for making gutter and flushing system while metal netwas used as screen which was placed at the entrance of thewater collection system

263 Storage Tank To maintain the quality of harvestedrain water a simple and convenient discharge system isvery important It is essential that the first rainwater can bedischarged outside the storage tank easily through flushingsystem The cover of the tank should be tightly fitted toprevent evaporation and mosquito breeding and to keepspiders lizards and other insects from entering the tank Inthis study two plastic tanks of 2000 L capacity were usedThetanks were placed on a round-shaped basement which wasapproximately 3 ft above the ground This was done in theview that water can be easily taken from the tank by openingthe tap fitted with this The tank was fitted with two outletsone for collecting water from it and the other for dischargingwater from the tank during cleaning up

27 Laboratory Tests Sample of harvested rainwater wastaken from the storage tank for the analyses of pH turbiditytotal dissolved solid total hardness chloride iron nitrateand alkalinity The tests were conducted at the Chemi-cal Engineering Laboratory Jessore University of Scienceand Technology Bangladesh and at the laboratory of AsiaArsenic Network Jessore Bangladesh using standard meth-ods (mentioned in Table 2)

3 Discussion and Conclusion

31 The Climate of Bangladesh Even though Bangladesh hassix seasons (each season consists of twomonths) in literaturein fact those are overlapped with each other Bangladeshhas a typical monsoon climate characterized by rain-bearingwindsmoderately warm temperatures and high humidity Ingeneral the average maximum temperature in the summermonths is in the mid 30∘C Bangladesh receives heavyrainfall during the rainy season which extends from Mayto September with the peak of precipitation taking placeduring June July and August Rain usually falls in the form

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Aver

age r

ainf

all (

mm

)

Figure 2 Average yearly rainfall data in Khulna district from 1989to 2008

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Month

Rain

fall

(mm

)

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Figure 3 Monthly rainfall data

of showers that can last for few minutes to several hours Theaverage annual rainfall under the normal climatic conditionsis about 2320mm [15] in Bangladesh while that in Khulnadistrict is about 1800mm Rainfall data for a period of 20years (from 1989 to 2008) are presented in Figure 2 whilemonthly rainfall data for the year of 2006 are depicted inFigure 3 Such data indicate that there is a significant amountof rainwater that can be harvested in the rainy season Onthe basis of this rainfall RWH system can be effectivelyimplemented for household usage

32 Water Quality Considerations Water security has beendefined by WaterAid [7] as ldquoReliable access to water ofsufficient quantity and quality for basic human needs small-scale livelihood and local ecosystem services coupled with


a well managed risk of water-related disastersrdquo Thereforea question arises how safe is the rain water The safety ofwater can be determined at the household level by peoplersquosperception and by laboratory analyses Since rainwater doesnot contain any minerals and does not carry any taste it isnot widely accepted as drinking water Most of the existingrainwater tanks are generally not tested for water qualitytherefore householders have no knowledge of true waterquality but rather they have only the perception of waterquality The quality of rain water depends on several issueswhich include but are not limited to the following locationrainfall intensity number of dry days preceding a rainfalland rainwater collection system as well as storage methodThe harvested and stored rainwater may not always meet theWHO standards [23 24] as it is usually free from mineralsand salt

33 Physical and Chemical Tests of Harvested RainwaterRural areas are usually far apart from industrial pollution[25] The current study area is similar to this locationAs a result the rainwater in the study area is anticipatedto be clean except for some dissolved gases However theharvested rainwater was tested and the results are depictedin Table 2 alongside Bangladesh national standards as well asWHO standards The result shows that pH of the harvestedrainwater is within acceptable limits of both Bangladeshnational standards and WHO standards The result alsoshows that there is almost no dissolved solid Other testedparameters are of very good conformity with standard valuesHowever the presence of chloride ion in harvested rainwateris because rainwater acquires its chloride content from thelarge bodies of salt water of the Bay of Bengal Moreoverwhen the ocean evaporates some anions travel with the watervapor [26] Total dissolved solid (TDS) in harvested rainwateris found to be significantly low compared to the drinkingwater standards This can be attributed to the fact that mostof the pollutants in atmosphere are washed away after 5ndash20 minutes of rain depending on the intensity of rainfallThe result of the quality test of the sample indicated thatharvested rainwater does not contain anything harmful fordrinking Even though Shittu et al [5] suggested that additionof sodium hypochlorite solution would enhance the qualityof harvested water in this current work the analyses reportshowed that without addition of any such chemicals theharvested rain water quality remains within the standardsThis means that the harvested rainwater contained in thestorage tank is of good quality and suitable for domestic useHowever after building up the rainwater harvesting system itis important tomonitor and test the water quality on a regularseasonal basis It is however recommended that the storedwater should be chlorinated once in every rainy season Itis further recommended that catchment area and supportingrainwater collection system must be cleaned before the startof the rainy season

4 Conclusion

This study evaluated the feasibility of rainwater harvestingand its domestic usage in a very remote locality of Bangladesh

where there is severe scarcity of drinking water A rainwaterharvesting system for a small household was constructed byusing commodities and resources available in local marketsand was found to be very much effective as well as viableIt was found that the amount of harvested and storedrainwater could be utilized not only in rainy season butalso over the whole dry periods of the year for the studiedhousehold Although the system generally poses a potentialpollution problem with bacteria the other physicochemicalcharacteristics of harvested rainwater showed that those werein good accordance with the standards of Bangladesh andthose of WHO

There are so many misconceptions in the world andrainwater is no exception When people think about rainwa-ter they often erroneously think that it contains pollutantsBut the truth is that rainwater is extremely clean and safeif the location is in rural area where highway traffic andurbanization are far-reaching So in such area if rainwatercan be collected and stored in a proper and scientific mannermanagement of water resources would enter a new era Sincethe discussed roof harvesting technology does not have anyharmful effect on the environment rainwater harvestingseems to be a beneficial and sustainable method Thereforeadvocacy for the adoption of rainwater would certainly leadto a reduction of problems related to water shortage inmonsoon-prone country like Bangladesh

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interestsregarding the publication of this paper

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the inhabitants of the houseof the research site The authors also thank Md Abu ShamimKhan Chemist Environmental Laboratory Asia ArsenicNetwork Jessore Bangladesh

References

[1] Chemical of the Week 2014 httpscifunchemwisceduchemweekPDFCOW-Water-Jan2011pdf

[2] Aqua Bodies 2014 httpwwwprojectwetorgsitesdefaultfilescontentdocumentshydration-activitiespdf

[3] S Yeasmin and K F Rahman ldquoPotential rainwater harvestingin Dhaka city an empirical studyrdquo ASA University Review vol7 no 1 pp 143ndash150 2013

[4] K H White L R Soward and G Shankle Harvesting Storingand Treating Rainwater for Domestic Indoor Use Texas Com-mission on Environmental Quality Austin Tex USA 2007

[5] O I Shittu O T Okareh and A O Coker ldquoDesign andconstruction of rainwater harvesting system for domestic watersupply in Ibadan Nigeriardquo Journal of Research in EnvironmentalScience and Toxicology vol 1 no 6 pp 153ndash160 2012

[6] Website of UNEP 2014 httpwwwuneporggeogeo4report04 waterpdf

[7] WaterAid Water Security Framework WaterAid London UK2012


[8] Website of UNWater 2014 httpwwwunwaterorg[9] J Worm and T van Hattum Rainwater Harvesting for Domestic

Use Agromisa Foundation and CTAWageningenTheNether-lands 1st edition 2006

[10] World Health Organization (WHO) Water for Health WHOGuidelines for Drinking Water Quality World Health Organiza-tion (WHO) 2010

[11] Bangladesh Convention of Rainwater Harvesting 2012 httpwwwrainwaterconventionorg

[12] WaterAid ldquoTechnical brief-Rainwater harvestingrdquo 2013 httpwwwwateraidorgtechnologies

[13] C Kloss ldquoManaging wet weather with green infrastructuremunicipal handbook- rainwater harvesting policiesrdquo Tech RepEPA-833-F-08-010 Environmental Protection Agency 2008

[14] E Ghisi A Montibeller and R W Schmidt ldquoPotential forpotable water savings by using rainwater an analysis over 62cities in southern Brazilrdquo Building and Environment vol 41 no2 pp 204ndash210 2006

[15] S B Murshed A K M S Islam and M S A Khan ldquoImpanctof climate change on rainfall intensity in Bangladeshrdquo inProceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Water andFlood Management Dhaka Bangladesh January 2011

[16] Website of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC)2013 httpwwwbarcgovbdym rainfallphp

[17] M R Kabir and I M Faisal ldquoIndigenous practice for water har-vesting in Bangladeshrdquo in Proceedings of the Regional Workshopon Traditional Water Harvesting System Tehran Iran 1999

[18] Website of Google Maps 2014 httpsmapsgooglecom[19] M A Y A Harun and G M M Kabir ldquoEvaluating pond sand

filter as sustainable drinking water supplier in the Southwestcoastal region of Bangladeshrdquo Applied Water Science vol 3 no1 pp 161ndash166 2013

[20] F Sultana Sustainable water supply rainwater harvesting formultistoried residential apartments in Dhaka Bangladesh [MSthesis] Texas AampMUniversity College Station Tex USA 2007

[21] T H Thomas and D B Martinson Roofwater HarvestingA Handbook for Practitioners IRC International Water andSanitation Centre Delft The Netherlands 2007

[22] R Hasse Rainwater Groundstructures for Roof Catchment GateWiesbaden Germany 1989

[23] WorldHealthOrganization (WHO) ldquoGuidelines on technologyfor water supply systems in small communitiesrdquo CEHA Doc-ument no TLM-05 Eastern Mediterranean Regional OfficeCenter of Environmental Health Activities Amman Jordan1993

[24] F A Abdulla and A W Al-Shareef ldquoRoof rainwater harvestingsystems for household water supply in Jordanrdquo Desalinationvol 243 no 1ndash3 pp 195ndash207 2009

[25] B Helmreich and H Horn ldquoOpportunities in rainwater har-vestingrdquo Desalination vol 248 no 1ndash3 pp 118ndash124 2009

[26] G B Avery Jr J D Willey and R J Kieber ldquoDiurnal variationsin major rainwater components at a coastal site in NorthCarolinardquo Atmospheric Environment vol 35 no 23 pp 3927ndash3933 2001

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people often rely on fresh water pond which is normallypreserved by the local community But nowadays freshwaterponds are also not available due to horizontal saline intrusionin the coastal area Therefore people particularly womenand girls are to travel up to several kilometers for collectingwater for drinking which means that a significant num-ber of productive hours are consumed Moreover this hasimpacts on womenrsquos safety girlsrsquo education health risks andmicroeconomy of individual family However after the hitof Cyclone-Sidr in November 2007 and Cyclone-Aila in May2009 all water sources became dysfunctional and sanitationfacilities were either destroyed or damaged by tidal surgein the coastal areas of Bangladesh Therefore the existingfresh water sources both surface and groundwater becamecontaminated by either salinity or bacteria [11]

Drinking water is generally obtained from two sourcesgroundwater (wells boreholes etc) and surfacewater (riverslakes etc) However these sources account for only 40 oftotal precipitation as depicted by WaterAid [12] Thus it isevident that there are considerable scopes for the collection ofrainwater when it falls The potential of rainwater harvesting(RWH) and the urgency of mitigating water-scarcity relatedproblems are also confirmed by the fact thatmany researchersare working on these issues RWH is a simple technique ofcollecting rainwater instantlymaking sure that it does not runoff into river or stream or does not soak into the ground ordoes not become contaminated [4 13] Such technique hasbeen practiced for centuries However a low-cost and easy-to-maintain water supply system in difficult geohydrologicalareas is very much in demand to ensure a sustainabledevelopment In this regard RWH can be considered as aprobable solution of drinking water crisis in arsenic affectedareas saline zone in the coastal areas and areas prone togroundwater depletion Ghisi et al showed a huge potentialof potable water savings and preservation of water resourcesthrough RWH in asmany as 62 cities in Brazil [14] Rainwateris free from salinity as well as arsenic contamination andis safe too if it is maintained hygienically The physicalchemical and bacteriological characteristics of harvestedrainwater usually represent a suitable and acceptable standardof potable water Harvested rainwater can be used not onlyin drinking purposes but also in cooking washing andbathing The main limitation of this option is nonavailabilityof rain water around the year But it can be widely used assupplementary source if rainwater is properly stored in rainyseason

The geographic location of Bangladesh is very uniquehaving the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean to thesouth and the Himalayas to the north Because of suchphysical location a tropical monsoon climate prevails inBangladesh that has made it one of the wettest countries ofthe world Therefore climate of Bangladesh is characterizedby difference in wind pattern and variation in rainfall (withhigh rainfall from April to September) The mean annualrainfall in Bangladesh is about 2320mm [15] while that inKhulna district is about 1800mm [16] Theoretically 20 ofthe total rainfall might satisfy almost the whole of Dhakacityrsquos demand collected during the monsoon [17] Based onsuch data and information it can be predicted that rainfall

A Bajua Khulna

Figure 1 Location of the research site [18]

that occurred in Khulna area could well satisfy the demandof a small household of a rural area Bajua near Sundarbanof Khulna district in Bangladesh if it is efficiently harvestedTherefore the objectives of this study are to construct aRWH system for domestic use in a small household of arural area (Bajua) of Khulna to evaluate the effectiveness ofthe rainwater harvesting system and to monitor the quality(physical as well as chemical) of harvested rainwater as wellas to assess the acceptability of rainwater use for domesticpurpose

2 Materials and Methods

21 The Research Site The research site Bajua a rural villageof Khulna district in Bangladesh is situated at the southernpart of Khulna district and is nearly 46 km away fromKhulnaMetropolitan area Bajua is selected as the study area becausethe area has extensive scarcity of pure drinking water It islocated at 22∘3510158401015840 latitude and 89∘56910158401015840 longitude and is nearthe Sundarban one of the famousworld heritage site declaredby UNESCO A location map is shown in Figure 1 [18] Asmentioned above the mean annual rainfall in this area isabout 1800mm [16]

22 Methodology The study was conducted through somesequential steps which were necessary to abide by for obtain-ing scientific outcome The methodology of this study wasconfined to in-depth field observation 20 years mean rainfalldata analyses (1989ndash2008) calculation of water demand percapita of the studied household collection storage and usageof harvested water of that household and laboratory testsThe field observation showed that the studied locality has asevere problem of shortage of pure drinking water which isinstigated for selecting the study area However the studywasconducted during the period from April 2011 to September2012 Rainfall data for a period of 20 years (1989ndash2008) was











119876 = RC times 119877 times 119860 (1)














1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Aver

age r

ainf

all (

mm

)


0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Month

Rain

fall

(mm

)








4 Conclusion






Acknowledgments


References





































Journal of

Chemistry


Advances in

Physical Chemistry



Journal of

Volume 2014














Journal of

Spectroscopy



Journal of


Quantum Chemistry






CatalystsJournal of











119876 = RC times 119877 times 119860 (1)














1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Aver

age r

ainf

all (

mm

)


0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Month

Rain

fall

(mm

)








4 Conclusion






Acknowledgments


References





































Journal of

Chemistry


Advances in

Physical Chemistry



Journal of

Volume 2014














Journal of

Spectroscopy



Journal of


Quantum Chemistry






CatalystsJournal of









1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Aver

age r

ainf

all (

mm

)


0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Month

Rain

fall

(mm

)








4 Conclusion






Acknowledgments


References





































Journal of

Chemistry


Advances in

Physical Chemistry



Journal of

Volume 2014














Journal of

Spectroscopy



Journal of


Quantum Chemistry






CatalystsJournal of




4 Conclusion






Acknowledgments


References





































Journal of

Chemistry


Advances in

Physical Chemistry



Journal of

Volume 2014














Journal of

Spectroscopy



Journal of


Quantum Chemistry






CatalystsJournal of






























Journal of

Chemistry


Advances in

Physical Chemistry



Journal of

Volume 2014














Journal of

Spectroscopy



Journal of


Quantum Chemistry






CatalystsJournal of










Journal of

Chemistry


Advances in

Physical Chemistry



Journal of

Volume 2014














Journal of

Spectroscopy



Journal of


Quantum Chemistry






CatalystsJournal of

Documents

Research Article Construction and Evaluation of …downloads.hindawi.com/archive/2014/751952.pdfComponents of RWH Systems. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems have three basic components