Question

In: Civil Engineering

a. ) Rainwater harvesting is regarded as the simplest way of improving food security and accelerating...

a. ) Rainwater harvesting is regarded as the simplest way of improving food security and accelerating environmental rehabilitation in the arid and semi-arid lands. Describe and discuss various technologies for rainwater harvesting for agriculture and domestic/livestock water supply             

  1. ) What are the steps and data requirements in the design of an earth dam as a water harvesting and storage structure in an arid and semi-arid area?                                                                         

Solutions

Expert Solution

Rainwater harvesting is regarded as the simplest way of improving food security and accelerating environmental rehabilitation in the arid and semi-arid lands because extreme climatic conditions and high inter-annual or seasonal variability of this weather element could adversely affect productivity, because rainfall controls the crop yields and determines the choice of crops that can be grown. One of the reasons for low crop production in semi arid areas is marginal and erratic rainfall exacerbated by high runoff and evapotranspiration losses. Thiese problems can be minimised by doing rainwater harvesting in most efficient ways.

Agriculture & Domestic/Livestock rainwater harvesting:

Water uses in domestic and agriculture are IRRIGATION, livestock water use is water associated with livestock watering, feedlots, dairy operations, and other on-farm needs, AQUACULTURE.

Rainwater harvesting is a type of harvest in which the rain drops are collected and stored for the future use. Rainwater can be collected from rivers or roofs and redirected to a deep pit , aquifer, a reservoir with percolation, or collected from dew or fog with nets or other tools. Its uses include water for gardens, livestock, irrigation, domestic use with proper treatment, indoor heating for houses, etc. The harvested water can also be used as drinking water, longer-term storage, and for other purposes such as groundwater recharge.

Modern approach of rainwater harvesting:

  • Nontraditional: in this method water is collected in thousands of gallons, storing the water in six daisy-chained 12,000 gallons tanks.
  • Rainwater harvesting by freshwater-flooded forests

  • Rainwater harvesting by solar power panels: Solar panels can also be used for harvesting most of the rain water falling on them and drinking quality water, free from bacteria and suspended matter, can be generated by simple filtration and disinfection processes as rain water is very low in salinity.

  • Construction of various rainwater harvesting structure such as, PERCOLATION TANK,CHECK DAMS/ CEMENT PLUG/ NALA BUNDS,POND/ TANK,BUNDS &DAMS, etc.

design of an earth dam as a water harvesting and storage structure

The various components of an earthen bund(Dam) include

  • foundation including key trench or cut-off
  • height of bund
  • side slopes
  • top width
  • free board
  • settlement allowance.

Data requaired

  • Foundation Cutoffs
  • Height of Bund
  • Free Board
  • Settlement Allowance
  • Top Width of Embankment
  • Side Slope of Bund

Construction of Dam includes following steps:

  1. Site clearing-striping vegetation, pervious top earth
  2. Staking for the base and key trench
  3. Key trench digging and filling
  4. Preparation of earth fill material with optimum moisture
  5. Placement and compaction of earth in layers
  6. Provision and completion of irrigation outlet and spillway
  7. Trimming slopes to correct angle
  8. Protection of upstream and downstream slopes

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