Development of Sustainable and Cost-Effective Framework for Rain Water Treatment

Abstract

Rainwater harvesting is a critical approach to addressing water scarcity. However, untreated rainwater collected from ground pits often contains impurities that limit its usability. This research develops a sustainable and cost-effective framework for treating rainwater collected in ground pits. The study focuses on designing a low-cost treatment system that incorporates natural filtration materials, minimal energy resources, and minimal maintenance requirements.

Two different locations were selected to collect rainwater. Ground of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab) is selected as first location as an urban area. Second location is selected at Sidhwan Bet, Ludhiana (Punjab) as rural area. When rainfall occurs, the water will be collected from the pit dug on the open grounds of above said two locations. Quality of water collected from these two locations were compared and Cost-Effective framework for the treatment of rain water was prepared. The study revealed that reverse osmosis and activated carbon filtration achieved superior water quality at higher cost. The reduction in TDS of water was noted in Reverse osmosis method of water treatment. The pH value of water obtained from reverse osmosis method was also very low. Filter method proved effective for rainwater treatment as rainwater has very low TDS during collection of water. Increase in value of TDS was noted for the rainwater collected from ground pit with time when left undisturbed for month. Cotton rope method was proven more effective than jute rope method as quality of water can be improved with increase in density of used cotton.