Desert Water Harvesting to Benefit Wildlife: A Simple, Cheap, And Durable Sub-Surface Water Harvester for Remote Locations
Abstract.A sub-surface desert water harvester was constructed in the sagebrush steppe habitat of south-central Idaho, U.S.A. The desert water harvester utilizes a buried micro-catchment and three buried storage tanks to augment water for wildlife during the dry season. In this region, mean annual precipitation (MAP) ranges between about 150–250 mm (6″–10″), 70% of which falls during the cold season, November to May. Mid-summer through early autumn, June through October, is the dry portion of the year. During this period, the sub-surface water harvester provides supplemental water for wildlife for 30–90 days, depending upon the precipitation that year. The desert water harvester is constructed with commonly available, “over the counter” materials. The micro-catchment is made of a square-shaped, 20 mL. “PERMALON” polyethylene pond liner (approximately 22.9 m × 22.9 m = 523 m2) buried at a depth of about 60 cm. A PVC pipe connects the harvester with two storage tanks and a drinking trough. The total capacity of the water harvester is about 4777 L (1262 U.S. gallons) which includes three underground storage tanks, a trough and pipes. The drinking trough is refined with an access ramp for birds and small animals. The technology is simple, cheap, and durable and can be adapted to other uses, e.g. drip irrigation, short-term water for small livestock, poultry farming etc. The desert water harvester can be used to concentrate and collect water from precipitation and run-off in semi-arid and arid regions. Water harvested in such a relatively small area will not impact the ground water table but it should help to grow small areas of crops or vegetables to aid villagers in self-sufficiency.
Artificial Recharge of Groundwater with Stormwater as a New Water Resource - Case Study of the Gaza Strip, Palestine
Stormwater harvesting has become an important water resource. The rational runoff formula has been applied using GIS as a tool to estimate runoff amounts from different landuse categories. These amounts have been estimated to be 37 Mm in the existing landuse and will reach 43 Mm for planned landuse, i.e. urban development expansion. Continuous urbanisation will result in more wastage of rainfall that could be used for replenishment of groundwater. The Gaza Strip was divided into seven geographic zones, the potential amounts of rainfall runoff in each zone were estimated, and accordingly, conveying infrastructures and infiltration systems are identified. Of course, this will add a new resource to the water budget, which will suffer from a deficit estimated to be 100 Mm per year by the year 2020. This and other non-conventional resources will together bridge the gap between supply and demand.
Suitability and water quality criteria of an open drainage municipal sewage water at Coimbatore, used for irrigation.
Sanganur canal is the major open drainage system which has intricate linkage with storm water supply, domestic sewage and industrial effluent disposal. Water samples from various stations were collected and analysed for physicochemical parameters to assess the water quality of the Sanganur canal system. The study revealed that physicochemical parameters like pH, EC, TDS, DO, BOD, COD exceeded the permissible limit, clearly indicating the need of proper treatment of waste water before discharge into the Noyyal river.