Advantages of Rainwater Harvesting in a Modern World

Professor Renville English I 14 September 2012 The Advantages of pelting Harvesting in a Modern World Picture yourself on a hot summer dayis irrigate involved? Does your mute skin feel the cooling effect of a light snatch? Maybe youre thirsty and sipping on a glass of lemonade, ice cubes bobbing at the surface. Perhaps you ar at the beach, listening to the waves crash onto the shore, or youre in your backyard hearing the sprinklers on the lawn. Yes, irrigate is involved. peeing, in tot anyy of its forms, is one of the most essential substances on Earth and provides the opportunity for life.We, as a society, counter piddle for granted. Every day, if you want pee, all you arrive to do is walk to the ne arest sink and turn it on. There is no thought as to where that water comes from, or the fact that it whitethorn non be there forever. Our everyday consumption behaviors much(prenominal) as wasteing and uniform washing coffin nail have a signifi spatet furbish up on th e environment. Imagine a future where water is scarce and restricted. How would you survive? all over the world regions with sustainable background knowledge water balance are shrinking every day.This can be due to depletion because of overdraft, salinization from inadequate drainpipe or pollution from agricultural and industrial activity. In Yemen alone, ground water rootage is expect to exceed recharge by 400 percent. Aquifers in Mexico are declining at an average rate of 1. 79 to 3. 3 meters per socio-economic class (Shah, Molden, Sakthivadivel and Seckler, 2000). At such an alarming rate of recession, it is weighty to find another(prenominal) alternative source of water to t wind uping recoup just about of the ground water append.For this reason I do believe that rainwater harvest-feast is a viable option to substitute ground water extraction in well-nigh regions and to help replenish ground water. About 70% of the Earth is covered with water, and 96. 5% of that is pa rt of the oceans. Only a meek portion of the Earths water is fresh water. 1. 7% is subjugate the stairs ground and 1. 8% is above ground in ice caps, glaciers and persistent snow, with only . 06% usable above ground in lakes, rivers and swamps (Shah, Molden, Sakthivadivel and Seckler 2000). rainfallwater glean can be used in many ways. rainwater can be used as water for livestock, irrigation for crops, to water plants around your house, to replace water for showering, flushing your toilet, for your dishwasher or for laundry, and with the right treatment, it can be used for drink water. There are many advantages to rainwater increase. After the initial monetary value for equipment, rainwater harvesting is essentially free. It eliminates the need for intricate and expensive dispensing systems. It can replace groundwater supplies where the groundwater is unacceptable or unavailable or it can step-up finite ground water supplies.Rainwater has a nearly neutral pH and is not har d, so it eliminates the need for adding salts for softening the water and it is also sodium free. Plants thrive in rainwater (as seen when it rains). One of the most interesting aspects of rainwater harvesting is learning about the methods of capture, storage and use. The idea of rainwater harvesting is to intercept precipitation before it gets dirty. Contamination can still take place in the air, on the collection surface or in the storage facility itself. For that reason it may be more(prenominal) wanted to treat the water or restrict it to non-potable use (non-potable meaning not for consumption).Boiling is resource intensive and there is the danger of accidental scalding. Chemical disinfection requires some management, but it is well understood and compatible with water storage (Thomas 1998). However, maybe the best way to treat rainwater is via a filtration system. When assessing the health risks of tipsiness rainwater, consider the path taken by the raindrop through a wa shstand into a reservoir, through water treatment and distribution systems to you, the consumer. Water absorbs contaminants and minerals on its way to the reservoir.While in the reservoir, the water can come into contact with all kinds of materials oil, animal wastes, chemical, pharmaceutical and industrial pollution and trash. It is the water treatment plants job to remove contaminants and kill pathogens, however when chlorine is used, it degrades into byproducts that may pose health risks. The raindrop harvested on site will travel down a roof by way of a gutter to a storage tank. Before it is used for drinking, it is treated by a impartial process with filtration equipment that occupies about nine cubic feet of space (Krishna 2005).Rainwater harvesting can also reduce the volume of storm water lessening the impact on erosion and decreasing the load on storm sewers. This would help to keep pollutants, such as pesticides and fertilizers, out of rivers and ground water (Krishna 200 5). The summer of 2012 was harsh. Several regions suffered. Almost 61% of the country was in drought correspond to Brian Fuchs in an interview with USA Today posted on their website July 17, 2012. Rain was few and far between, however a lot of rainwater was wasted. Having water shipped in can be very expensive, and so many farmers cannot yield the added cost.Harvesting rainwater for irrigation is already utilized in some regions of the world such as India where the bulk of their rainfall happens in about 100 hours of weighty downpour with little time to replenish the ground water supply (Keller, Sakthivadivel and Seckler 2000). If more farmers would utilize rainwater harvesting during the times that it does rain, and build up a back up supply, then when rain is scarce, more of their crops could be irrigated, helping to offset some of the devastation. Next year, in 2013, the prices of gas as well as groceries are expected to rise immensely because of the scarcity of crops in 2012.I t is no surprise that rainwater harvesting is utilized more in poorer countries where it is generally more difficult to get clean water however, in the long term clean water scarcity is expected to intensify globally, even in richer countries (Thomas 1998). Systems can be as open as a rain barrel for garden irrigation at the end of a downspout or the can be as complex as a potable (for consumption) system. It makes sense, then, that for showers and flushing the toilet, rainwater could be used to offset using water from other sources that are shrinking annually.Only three key elements are needed for this a collection surface, such as a roof, guttering and a storage tank large enough to moderate fluctuations in physical exercise and rainfall (Thomas 1998). It is the third element that poses the greatest cost burden, however it may be worth it to try to help alleviate groundwater usage and eventual(prenominal) depletion. From a financial perspective, a system for potable use cannot fence with water supplied from a municipality however, it is cost-competitive with the installation of a well in homespun settings (Krishna 2005). An estimated 100,000 residential rainwater harvesting systems are in use in he United States (Krishna 2005). More are being installed by gardeners and homeowners seek a sustainable, high-quality water source. Rainwater harvesting is recognized as an important water conserving measure. I am not proposing that anyone completely rely on rainwater for their household consumption. It would be very hard to rely solo on a rainwater supply. However to try to supplement some every day water usage such as shower water, toilet water or even water for laundry would greatly benefit the water supply and, in the end, the planet. Works Cited Krishna, Dr.Hari J. Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting. Texas Water Development Board (2005). Print. Pandey, Deep Narayan, Anil K. Gupta, and David M. Anderson Rainwater Harvesting As an Adaptation to Climate C hange. Current Science, Vol 85 (2003). PDF file. Shah, Tushaar, David Molden, R. Sakthivadivel and David Seckler. The world(prenominal) Groundwater Situation Overview of Opportunities and Challenges. International Water Management Institute (2000). Print. Thomas, Terry. Domestic Water Supply Using Rainwater Harvesting. Diss. University of Warwick (1998). Print.