Course work under Dr. Baerbal Sinha at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali. by- Ankit Labh (ankitlabh@gmail.com)

1. Rainwater Harvesting in
the rural context:
Can SODIS treated meteoric water
reduce the impact of geogenic
contamination on human health?
Ankit Labh
( MS13003 )
23rd Feb 2016

2. Outline
• Rainwater Harvesting
o Study of Darbhanga,Bihar
• (Solar Disinfection ) SODIS
o Case Study of Tamil Nadu
o Study at NSU, South Korea
o Case Study of Sikkim
o Study of Betwa river, Bhopal
o Reports from Lumbini, Nepal.
• Conclusion
• International Recognition

3. Rainwater Harvesting:
RAINWATER HARVESTING is a
process involving collection and
storage of rain water (with the help
of artificially designed system) that
runs off natural or man-made
catchment areas.
Activity of direct collection of
rainwater

4. Water Crisis – Why?
• Over exploitation of current sources
• Low natural recharge due to urbanization
• Fear of Failure of monsoon

7. Average mean annual rainfall in India:
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 ;Wikipedia

8. Average annual evaporation in India:
http://cwc.gov.in/main/downloads/Evaporation%20Control%20in%20reservoirs.pdf

9. Aquifer system in India:
Central Ground water Board
Land Use and Water Resources Research 6 (2006) 1-17

10. What are the solution?
• Rainwater is ultimate source of fresh water
• Potential of rainwater to meet water demand
• To conserve ground water, aquifers must be recharged with
rainwater
• Rainwater harvesting is the ultimate answer

11. Methods for Rainwater harvesting:
Roof RWH system at Patkhori High School
in Mewat, Haryana

12. Methods of Rainwater Harvesting:
1) Roof –top Harvesting
 Open well method
 Bore well method
2)Foot-top / Open space harvesting
 Percolation or Recharge pit
 Recharge Well

15. Study of RWH at Darbhanga, Bihar
• North District of Bihar.
• 5th largest city of Bihar
• According to 2011 census, 91.30% live in rural areas.
• May is the hottest month when the temperature goes up to 47°C.
• Average annual rainfall of this district is 1142.3 mm /year.

16. Darbhanga: Temperature History
Source: MSN weather

17. Darbhanga: Precipitation History
Source: MSN weather

18. Role of Catchment area in RWH:
 Catchment area or roof
will determine how much
rainwater you can harvest.
 Differences in roof slope
do not change this
building’s catchment area
http://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.edu/catchment-area/vv
 The catchment area
is the first point of
contact for rainfall.
1 L = 0.26417 Gallon
1 m2 = 10.7639 feet
1 m = 39.3701 inch

19. How much water can be harvested?
(Indira Awas Yojna)
• Average annual rainfall of Darbhanga District is 1149.9 mm /year.
• Volume of water collected @terrace  20 m2 X 0.5 m = 10 m3 = 10,000 L
(As per IAY) (only 43% of annual rainfall)
• 10,000 Liter per year could be harvested from one house even when we assumes
that not 100 % but only 43 % could be harvested.
• Basic minimum need per day is 40 L/day. So this much water is enough for 250
days an year for a single person. (70% time an year)
[IAY = Indiara Awas Yojna]

20. Under the “Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme
(ARWSP)” guideline the norms for providing potable
drinking water to the rural population based on basic
minimum need per day is as follows:
Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission ;
National Rural Drinking Water Programme (2010 report)
lpcd(litres per capita daily)

21. Safe Water definition as per IS-10500 Standard of BIS
Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission ;
National Rural Drinking Water Programme (2010 report)

22. SODIS
Solar Disinfection

23. Introduction of SODIS(Solar Disinfection )
• simple low-cost, household-level drinking water treatment
technology
• uses solar radiation to improves microbiological quality of drinking
water
• one of the recommended HWTS by World Health Organisation (WHO).

25. SODIS applicability on Globe
http://www.matthewb.id.au/media/world_insolation_map.gif

26. Science behind SODIS :
• SODIS process consists mainly of UV-A light (320 to 400
nm), which makes 6% of the total solar light. UV-A
radiation directly interacts with the DNA, nucleic acids
and enzymes of the living cells, changes the molecular
structure and leads to cell death.
• Oxygen was later identified as a crucial component of the
solar disinfection process.
• UV-A radiation generates oxygen radicals that are
essential for the inactivation of microorganisms (Reed,
1997, Reed et al., 2000).
• To achieve an equilibrium between oxygen levels in air
and water, potential users are recommended to shake
bottles before sun exposure (Kehoe et al., 2001)

27. Efficiency:
• For efficient SODIS, a geographical area should receive
radiation above 500 W/m2 for 3–5 hours.
[J Water Supply Res T 43(3): 154–169]
• The inactivation rate under sunny weather condition
with different rear surface was in order as
absorptive>reflective>transparent containers

28. Case Study of Tamil Nadu, India
o In Tamil Nadu, about 72% of the population has no access
to clean drinking water
o Gastrointestinal diseases and Cholera epidemics are
therefore widespread
o Study of five districts along the Cauvery Basin: Trichi,
Erode, Perambalur, Karur and Pudukkottai
o Groundwater is the main source of drinking water and
private pumps, pond water are also common.
o Bottle Supply system has been established with the help
of local NGO and local volunteers

29. Study in Field:
o Over 2 years, 41450 families have been
trained in improved hygiene practices and
the application of SODIS.
o 90% of all the samples tested contained bacteria counts of 100 to
1000 colonies per 100ml.
Results:
o The strong contamination of the raw water, the tests showed that
SODIS treated water contained 0(zero) colonies of bacteria in
71.4% of the samples.
http://www.sswm.info/sites/default/files/reference_attachments/LEAD%20n.y.%20Sodis%20Case%2
0study%20Tamil%20Nadu%20India.pdf

30. Presenting the results of the water quality tests to the
community at TN(left: Raw water, right: SODIS water)
http://www.sswm.info/sites/default/files/reference_attachments/LEAD%20n.y.%20Sodis%20Case%20stud
y%20Tamil%20Nadu%20India.pdf

31. Result of Study
 The survey on the acceptance of SODIS revealed that from
the people trained there are 47.6% regular users, 45.2%
irregular users and 7.1% non users
 Regular : 26 days per month, 2 bottle per person.
 More than 50% household members consume SODIS water

32. Study at Energy Centre, MANIT, Bhopal, M.P.
[Lower lake and Betwa river]
WATER
PURIFICATIO
N USING
IMPROVED
SODIS,LPU

33. Temperature measurement
Sample 1 (Normal TAP Water)
Sample 2 (TAP Water with Activated Carbon) 10 mg/ Lt
Sample 3 (TAP Water with TiO2 Nano powder) 10 mg/ Lt.

34. Irradiance change under different weather conditions
[ study at NSU, South Korea]

35. Temperature change in PET bottles with different rear surfaces against exposure
time under (a) sunny, (b) mild, and (c) weak weather conditions
Amin MT, Nawaz M, Amin MN, Han M (2014) Solar Disinfection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Harvested
Rainwater: A Step towards Potability of Rainwater. PLoS ONE 9(3): e90743. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090743

36. Treatment Efficiency:
Microbiological
studies
demonstrate
effectiveness of
SODIS against a
range of germs

37. Case Study of SODIS in Sikkim
• South District (Namchi) was selected for study
• Source of Water : Rangit River and spring water
• 102 households identified having >1 under-five children (136 Children)

38. Result of Diarrhea prevention in Sikkim, INDIA
No. of
households
No. of children No. of diarrheal
cases
SODIS users 52 66 05 (7.58 %)
SODIS non-users 50 70 22 (31.43%)
Prevalence of diarrhea among underfive children who used SODIS and those who did
not (after eight weeks of intervention)
J Glob Infect Dis. 2010 Sep-Dec; 2(3): 221–225.

39. Results of SODIS in Lumbini, Nepal
http://www.grilink.org/ibsrepor.htm
All Villages:- Sujandihawa, Bhagawanpur, Mujhana,Lamthihawa,Mahuwari,
Sonbarsha, Ramwapur,Dhodahawa,Shivgadhiya

40. In Indian Context
• A daunting number of 96 million people in India lack access to safe
drinking water
• UN supports SODIS programme at 3 regions in India :-
1. Tamil Nadu
2. Northeast (Asom,West Bengal)
3. Delhi
• More than 270 000 households are already using SODIS in india

41. Pathogenic enteric bacteria are a major cause of drinking
water related morbidity and mortality in the developing
world .
(WHO,2008).
More than four percent of the global DALYs (Disability
Adjusted Life Years) were ascribed to diarrheal diseases,
which ranked fourth among the most important
contributors to the global illness burden, after lower
respiratory infections (6.1% of total), HIV/AIDS (5.7%) and
unipolar depressive disorders (4.5%).
[World Health Report’s estimates (2004)]
Effect in general

42. Global Scene :
 According to the latest available information
by the joint study of UNICEF and WHO, still
783 million people do not have access to safe
water resources.
 Over 1.2 million children, most being less than
five years old, die due to diarrheal diseases
each year

43. What are the mistakes often made by new sodis users?
• Green or brown plastic bottles are used for SODIS. => such bottles do not
transmit the UV-A light. Therefore use clear transparent bottles only.
• The containers chosen are too big. => optimally plastic bottles of 1-2 liters
volumes are used (better surface/volume ratio).
• Bottles are placed upright. => Instead of this: laying the bottles horizontally
increases the area for sunlight exposure and reduces water depth. (At a water
depth of 10cm and moderate turbidity level of 26 NTU, UV-A radiation is
reduced to 50%)
• After SODIS treatment, the clean water is filled into contaminated containers
and the water is recontaminated. => Instead of this: consume the treated water
directly from the bottle using a clean glass or a cup.

44. Problems with practical use
• Turbidity Problem : SODIS to be very effective turbidity should be
less than 30 NTU (= Nephelometric Turbidity units)
• Cloudy Time: It is hard to give full SODIS treatment in time limit of
6 hr if it is full of clouds. So, One needs at least 2 continuous days
for full treatment.

45. Advantages:
• Improves microbiological quality of drinking water
• Extremely low-cost
• Easy to understand and simple to use
• Relies on locally available resources, plastic bottles
and sunlight

46. Disadvantages: Not alternative of fresh water
• Does not treat chemical pollution
• Is strongly climate and weather dependent
• Only small volumes can be treated at a time and regardless the
simplicity
• Requires the availability of PET bottles (or plastic bags) and needs
promotion

47. Conclusion:
• Rain Water Harvesting is the best technique one can apply to serve
the earth and himself
• under normal conditions SODIS shows an efficiency of about 99.9%
• SODIS works well and can be adopted wherever it needs. It secures
the ‘Basics Right to Live’ to some extent.

48. International recognition:
• The World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and the Red Cross therefore recommend the
SODIS method as a way to treat drinking water in developing countries.
• “Solar disinfection is an example of another measure with proven health impact that requires little
capital investment on the part of end-users, and is thus appropriate for the very poor.” WHO,
2007
• “UNICEF promotes a variety of treatment methods such as user-friendly filtration, simple solar
water disinfection (SODIS) and home chlorination. These are all low-cost, effective and
manageable at the household level.” UNICEF, 2009
• Red Cross Prize, 2006: "The jury considers SODIS an impressive way of contributing by the
simplest means to making water supplies better and safer, thereby reducing diarrhea and other
diseases like it, and mortality in developing countries." Red Cross, 2006

49. Thank you