Morarka has developed know how for water conservation initiatives in urban areas through entrepreneurial route that is business like operations under suitable policy and legislative framework by the local authorities for Rain Water Harvesting.
Water is the most precious gift of nature. Proper planning, development, management and optimal utilization of this vital natural resource are prerequisites for socio-economic development of the society. Increased demographic pressure in urban areas and socio-economic advancements has increased the demand of water for drinking, commercial, agriculture and industrial purposes. Therefore, every drop of water has to be utilized wisely. It becomes essential to conserve the fresh rain water.

Over exploitation of available water resource has continuously increased the cost of water and it is now also recognized as economic goods. The awareness levels in the society about water conservation are increasing everyday. Many individuals and institutions are interested in doing something about it, but are not able to do so, due to non-availability of appropriate technology as well as the service provisions. Many options of water management, which were earlier considered as non-feasible are now required to be reassessed for their feasibility.

Morarka Foundation has been engaged in developing technologies for water conservation since last over ten years. Through its own R&D it has now developed many new technologies for water harvesting, conservation and recycling. Recently, a biotech based system has also been developed for recycling of any waste water to any desired level of its use.

It is our firm belief, that water harvesting, conservation and recycling can be made to become entrepreneurial initiatives. The technology and the solutions developed by Morarka Foundation, on one hand would enable young unemployed youths to gain economic benefits, while on other hand any individual or organization interested in water conservation would be able to make the desired contributions in water management for the future.

A New Approach to Rain Water Harvesting

Rainfall is the only natural source of fresh water on Earth. The nature did provide for its harvesting, conservation and sustainable use, but for limited human requirements. As and when, the requirements by the society go beyond natural availability, we must work to augment the natural supply. In urban areas, in a place like Jaipur, while on one hand increasing urbanization has reduced the surface area for rain water recycling, the withdrawal from ground water is increasing everyday. It is therefore essential that enough provisions should be made to harvest as much rain water as possible to replenish ground water reservoirs.

It is just not enough to put fresh rain water into the sub-surface until and unless this sub-surface water helps in recharging ground water aquifers. If it is not done so, the sub-surface water gets lost due to capillary action and atmospheric evaporation. It is therefore advised that, whatever water that is harvested is straight away put into available ground water storage structures, such as the cavities created of the wells (both open wells as well as tube wells). In this way a sizably large portion of harvested water is immediately available for withdrawal almost like an underground water storage tank.

In doing so, that is harvesting of rain water, its filtration to the desired quality levels and its transportation to the underground reservoir is important. To begin with we suggest harvesting of water only from pucca surfaces that can be cleaned to avoid any contaminations. For filtration we are proposing to use standard equipments that are easy to utilize and are maintenance free. For transportation we are recommending to use flexible piping systems that can be installed during the rainy season only and taken off for rest of the year.

At Morarka Foundation, we have developed a standard filter design that uses only natural materials, operates on gravitational movement of water and requires very little maintenance.

For the installation of rain water harvesting systems on turn-key basis, the entrepreneur can be recognized as licensed service providers by the appropriate authorities. The local bodies can also prescribe draft/model agreements for their rain water harvesting services. We believe these entrepreneurs can be paid through a combination of fix lump-sum payment as well as variable charges linked to the amount of water successfully harvested by them for each site. Suitable metering mechanisms can also be installed for verification.

>> Design of Rain Water Harvesting System

>> Literature in Hindi for rain Water harvesting System