Undergraduate Thesis - Feasibility of Rainwater Harvesting in Paarden Island

The first decision to consider is ‘what is the rainwater going to be used for’ since this would dictate the level of design that would be required. If the rainwater is going to be used for irrigation of plants then some pre-treatment would be required, the storage calculation can also be a rough estimate of how much rainwater can be collected. If however the rainwater that is collected is used as a source of freshwater then the quality and quantity of the water will need to be designed for. 

 

There are various steps that are required to design a rainwater harvesting system which include:

1. Determining the amount of rainwater that is required;

2. Rainfrall distribution;

3. Surface area for collection;

4. Runoff coefficient of surface;

5. Rainwater volume calculation;

6. Required storage; and 

7. Pre and post treatment requirements.