RAINWATER HARVESTING: AN OPTION FOR IRRIGATION AND GROUND WATER RECHARGE
Keywords:
Water scarcity, Rain water harvesting, Landscape irrigationAbstract
Water scarcity due to global warming is one of the challenging issues of the current day and near future. Pakistan
is also one of the victims of this burning issue. Among many alternatives, rain water harvesting (RWH) is one of the
convenient, practical and economical solutions to cope with water scarcity. The overall aim of the research program is to
encourage society with economy, to reduce the irrigation water requirements from other expensive sources. In this study
Gulberg Greens Housing Society Islamabad was selected as a project site and the rainwater harvesting potential of farm
houses were evaluated. To estimate the RWH potential of the study site, mean monthly rainfall data of the nearest rain gauge
station was obtained from Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD) Islamabad for 31 years (1986-2016). The Runoff Curve
Number (RCN) method was used to estimate the RWH potential. The study indicates that, the use of RWH fulfills up to 80%
of the total irrigation water demand of farm houses. The installation cost and benefits of RWH were evaluated to compute the
savings due to RWH. These outcomes encourage farm houses owners to install the RWH system for sustainable landscape
irrigation.
