Rainwater Harvesting: 6 Ways to Save the planet!

Rainwater Harvesting: 6 Ways to Save the planet!
Rainwater Harvesting is one of the best methods to save money and help to protect and care for our planet, especially to avoid dependency on regular water supply system.

But, what is a Rainwater Harvesting System?

It is an innovative technique that is use to harvest rainwater from roofs and other above surfaces to be stored for later use.

Rainwater harvesting have many uses, such: garden and crop irrigation, watering livestock, laundry, and flushing toilets.

However, unless you establish a well purification system, you cannot use the harvest rainwater for showering, bathroom sink or kitchen because it’s not really fit for consumption.

In a normal scenario the rainwater is collect from roof buildings and then store inside of a tank.

The desing of rainwater harvesting systems is done after assessing site conditions that include rainfall pattern, incident rainfall, subsurface strata and their storage characteristics.

Those in the city, can harvest and use rainwater, also, the people in more rural areas can use it too.

Reasons for rainwater harvesting

Water in the oceans and seas is not always drinkable water and little

[caption id="attachment_10903" align="alignright" width="375"] Rooftop's rainwater harvesting linked to ground storage. Photo Credit: Gilbert García.

of it can be directed to other purposes.

So, there is a constant shortage of water that is either good for drinking or home and industrial use.

Besides, there are areas on the planet that have long faced water shortage.

These places have been able to combat this problem by harvesting what little rainwater they receive.

Hence, today the recent rainwater harvesting system take more importance.

But, you might be wondering: How it can benefit you? Here are the reasons:

#1- Low-cost Maintenance

Utilizing the rainwater harvesting system provides certain advantages to the community, reducing the costs of some maintenance.

For example, the cost of their installation and operation is much lesser than that of water purifying or pumping systems.

This system allows you to better use an energy resource, so the maintenance requires little time and energy.

Once the system is all up and running, you really don’t need to invest much money in keeping it running. If you intend only to use the collected water for non-drinking purposes, you don’t even need to purify the water.

[caption id="attachment_10902" align="aligncenter" width="375"] Rainwater Harvesting System in South Africa. Photo Credit: SuSanA Secretariat.

#2- Lower Water Bills

Collecting your own water means spending less on the water companies. On a bigger scale, rainwater harvesting can lead to major savings for households or small businesses.

#3- Great for Irrigation

Rainwater is not subjected to any chemicals found in groundwater. Therefore is ideal for irrigation as well as for watering plants in the garden.

Is a fact that storing large reservoirs of harvested rainwater is a great idea for areas where dried seasons are unpredictable.

#4- Reduces Groundwater Demand

As the population increases, the demand for water also increases. In many areas, it's extract groundwater to keep up with demand and this has lead to low levels of groundwater being left over.

#5- Reduces Soil Erosion and Floods

By keeping rainwater from reaching the ground, it is possible to prevent flooding if carried out on a large-enough scale. Rainwater harvesting also reduces soil erosion and keeps surface water clean, that means that it will not have any contamination from  pesticides and fertilizers.

#6- Multi-Purpose

In this point, you will find that it is unnecessary to use pure drinking water to another purpose more than just drinking.

Rainwater can be used for all sorts of things from flushing toilets, to washing clothes, cars, and dishes, to keeping the garden freshly watered.

Other usages

[caption id="attachment_10901" align="alignleft" width="375"] Rainwater harvesting in Burkina Faso. Photo Credit: The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance by Wikipedia.

The best thing about rainwater is that it is free from pollutants as well as salts, minerals, and other natural and artificial contaminants.

In areas with excess rainfall, the surplus rainwater can recharge ground water through artificial recharge techniques.

Despite the storage facilities may impose some restrictions on how much rainwater you can use, this helps for growing vegetables.

Also, the inconvenience of the regular maintenance as they may get prone to rodents, mosquitoes, algae growth, insects and lizards.

This doesn’t represent a problem for supply gardens and plants with water.

But, the system can be as breeding grounds for many animals if they don't have water.

The use of rainwater reduces the effect on aquifers, lessening the demand on ecologically sensitive or threatened aquifers.

So, according to Mother Earth News, every average American use about 100 gallons of water per day in many things.

Using a rainwater harvesting can help to low these numbers and more important, to be aware of how much water we’re using every day.

The world water supply is finite

[bctt tweet="Water is essence of life, save rain water." username="RichmondVale"]

And each drop of water that circles a drain unnecessarily wastes energy through the manufacturing of chemicals in the cycle of sewage treatment.

The Rainwater Harvesting system can make big imprints on the environmental sustainability.

Did you like this idea? Want to try the rainwater harvesting system in your house or business?

Let us know your opinion in the comment box below. Also, don't forget to share this article on your social networks.

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