Water Conservation, Rain Water Harvesting & Watershed Management

1. SHRI RAMDEOBABA COLLEGE OF
ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT,
NAGPUR
SEMINAR ON:
WATER CONSERVATION
PRESENTED BY,
ADITYA A. LUTADE (43)
SAKET Y. AGRAWAL (22)

2. WATER CONSERVATION
Water conservation refers to reducing the usage of water and
recycling of waste water for different purposes such as
cleaning, manufacturing, and agricultural irrigation.
Water conservation is:
Any beneficial reduction in water loss, use or waste.
Improved water management practices that reduce or enhance the
beneficial use of water.

3. Goals
• Sustainability: To ensure availability for future generations, the withdrawal of
fresh water from an ecosystem should not exceed its natural replacement rate.
• Energy conservation: Water pumping, delivery, and wastewater treatment
facilities consume a significant amount of energy.
• Minimizing human water use helps to preserve fresh water habitats for local
wildlife and migrating waterfowl, as well as reducing the need to build
new dams and other water diversion infrastructure.

4. Why Save Water?
• People use water in many different ways, we need it to survive.
Water is essential to life on earth. We need water to grow food, keep clean,
provide power, control fire, and last but not least, we need it to stay alive!
• When you use water wisely, you help the environment. You help preserve
drinking water supplies. And you ease the burden on wastewater treatment
plants—the less water you send down the drain, the less work these plants have
to do to make water clean again. When you use water wisely, you save
energy. You save the energy that your water supplier uses to treat and move
water to you, and the energy your family uses to heat your water.

5. How water can be conserved?
• Use water meter to check for hidden water leaks. Read the house water
meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the
meter does not read exactly the same, there is a leak.
• Turn off the water when you soap your hands and turn it back on once your
done.
• Turn off the water after you wet your toothbrush. There is no need to keep
the water running while brushing your teeth. Just wet your brush and fill a
glass for mouth rinsing
• Turn off the water while shaving. Fill half a glass with water to rinse your
razor. Saves three gallons each day.
• Avoid bathing under shower.
• Wash all dishes at once.

6. Water can be saved in many other ways
such as:
• Drip irrigation
• Rain water harvesting
• Waterless car washes
• Low flow taps in wash basins

8. RAIN WATER HARVESTING

9. What is Rain Water Harvesting?
Rainwater harvesting is the accumulation and deposition of
rainwater for reuse on-site, rather than allowing it to run off.
Its uses include water for garden, water for livestock, water
for irrigation, water for domestic use with proper treatment, and
indoor heating for houses etc. In many places the water collected is
just redirected to a deep pit with percolation. The harvested water can
be used as drinking water as well as for storage and other purpose like
irrigation.

10. Process of RWH

11. Rural model of RWH
Bawodi
Traditional step wells are called vavadi
in Gujarat, or baoris or bavadis in
Rajasthan and northern India.
Kunds
Covered underground tank,
developed primarily for
tackling drinking water
problems.

12. Urban Model of RWH

13. Advantages
1. Improvement in the quality of ground water.
2. Rise in the water levels in wells and bore wells that are
drying up
3. An ideal solution to water problems in areas having
inadequate water resources.
4. Reduction in the soil erosion as the surface runoff is
reduced.
5. Decrease in the choking of storm water drains and flooding
of roads.
6. Saving of energy, to lift ground water. (One-meter rise in
water level saves 0.40-kilowatt hour of electricity)

14. Some Facts
• Tamil Nadu is the first & only state in India which has made
roof top rainwater harvesting structure compulsory to all the
houses across the state. There are legal provisions to punish the
defaulters.
•At present, in Pune (in Maharashtra), rainwater harvesting is
compulsory for any new society to be registered.

15. Watershed Management

16. Watershed
An area or ridge of land that separates water flowing to
different rivers, basins, or seas is called watershed.

17. What is Watershed Management?
Watershed management emphasizes scientific soil and water
conservation in order to increase the biomass production.
The aim is to develop primary resources of land and water to
produce secondary resources of plants and animals for use in a
manner which will not cause ecological imbalance.
The process of creating and implementing plans, programs,
and projects to sustain and enhance watershed functions that
affect the plant, animal, and human communities within a
watershed boundary.

18. Causes of watershed
• Faulty agriculture
• Forestry and pasture (Grass land) management leads to
degradation of land
• Unscientific mining and quarrying
• Faulty road alignment and construction
• Industrialization
• Forest Fires

19. Results of watershed Deterioration
• Less production from agriculture, forests, grass lands etc.
• Erosion increases and decreases biomass production
• Rapid siltation of reservoirs, lakes reservoirs and river beds
• Less storage of water and lowering of water table
• Poverty as a result of less food production

20. Possible range of treatment measures
• Contour bunding
• Contour trenching
• Contour stone walls
• Bench terraces
• Land levelling
• Summer ploughing
WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT

21. Tree plantation
• Instead of uneconomical agriculture, farmers can
grow grass in this hilly area and can use that as a
fodder for cattle.
• Farmers can go for dairy development if good
quantity and quality of grass is available.
• For soil and water conservation this activity will
help. Plantation on common land will satisfy basic
need of fuel wood.
• Cheapest method for soil and water conservation.

23. Thank You