Ground water is one of the important sources of water in urban as well as rural areas. It is very evident from the number of failing bore wells or Open wells that it is unsustainable to pump out water from wells without recharging the same from the rain water. To reduce the effect of over exploitation, ground water recharges are to be taken up on a large scale at residential and institutional buildings.

With increasing urbanization, underground water has been indiscriminately exploited, causing depletion in water table. Increase in consumption and reduced precipitation intensity in regions is a vital cause for water scarcity. Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) is a technology where surface runoff is effectively collected during yielding rain periods. The proper rain water management could minimize the water crisis.

The methodology of rainwater harvesting involves collection, channelization, filtering, storage and recharge of rain water. The rainwater collected from rooftop catchment areas and surface runoffs are properly drained to respective recharge points. Surface runoff water thus collected is channelized effectively towards the recharging pits and it enters into the bore well through filters. The collected water is stored and recharging the ground water.

In KIOT campus an open well of 60 feet deep is available at academic C-Block basement to collect the roof top rainwater from the neighboring academic blocks in its vicinity. In addition there are three bore wells that are installed at salient spots to collect the surface runoffs effectively.

The bore wells are located in the vicinity of academic blocks such as D-block, E-block and in Boys hostel and Girls hostel building respectively. The surface runoffs percolates deep in to soil via recharging pits at the junction of bore well and thus facilitate the way for groundwater recharge.

The mean annual rainfall rate of Sankari region was recorded as 771 mm in the year 2018. On an average 0.01683 MCFT (Million Cubic Feet) volume of rainwater is collected from roof top catchment area which is properly channelized to recharge the open well. By surface runoffs approximately 0.322 MCFT volume of rainwater is drained into respective bore wells installed at distinguish spots of the campus. In total 0.338 MCFT volume of rainwater is collected from both roof top and runoff catchment area respectively.

Key benefits

  • Earlier in KIOT campus the consumption of water for drinking and domestic purposes is facilitated by premium water service through tanker lorry. Now it has been greatly reduced since the recharge of ground water satisfies the domestic water requirements.
  • RWH system established a balance between water demand and supplies and greatly influenced in saving amount of water expenses approximately a lakh of rupees in a year through ground water recharging.
  • RWH system gains rich impact in reducing runoffs and minimize water logging thereby reduces drainage problem.
  • RWH practice helps to avoid Day Zero and the related root causes in the future.
  • Students and faculty members of the institution have realized the importance of water by RWH practice followed in KIOT campus.