ABSTRACT

Rainwater harvesting is the collection of water volume from raindrops. A rainwater harvesting system consists of components of various stages - transporting rainwater through pipes or drains, filtration, and storage in tanks for reuse or recharge. This system has been the main source of water supply for potable and non-potable uses in the old days where the methods used were simple and primary. Drinking, bathing and cooking are the examples of potable uses. The rainwater used for this purposes are best to be treated first. Non-potable uses include flushing toilets, watering garden and washing floor where treatment of rainwater is not required for this purpose.

For potable purposes, rainwater treatment has to be implemented before the water is safely used. Treatment is done to eliminate any suspended solid and chemicals and pathogens that could harm ones health.

The main advantages of rainwater harvesting systems are conserving water resources and environment, help to control flooding, and reduction of impact of weather change. The available water resources are limited and/or seasonal, which made the searching for solutions for water shortage important. Many countries around the world are facing water shortages. Optimization of water usage and the conservation of water as a natural resource can help to overcome water shortage. Rainwater can be used for potable and non-potable uses.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Worlds population has been persistently increasing and so has the water demand. The population growth has direct influence on the water supply demand rates. This is proven when worldwide water demand has increased six folds between 1990 and 1995 while the population was only doubled. [1] High number of worlds population could lead to water shortage problem. Optimization of water usage and the conservation of water as a natural resource can help to overcome this problem. The municipal water that is being supplied for domestic usage may be contaminated with chemicals that are being used to treat the water. These chemicals could be hazardous to health in long term. It was a major problem in Selangor when the municipal supplied to houses was highly contaminated with ammonia. Landslides and creeks failure are not something alien in Malaysia. These catastrophes could happen due to the impact of rainfall to the bare surface of land. By collecting rainwater, it minimizes the amount of rainfall hitting the earth thus makes the probability of creek damages and slope failure smaller.

[1] Appan, A. (2000) Trends in Water Demands and the Role of Rainwater Catchment Systems in the Next Millennium, Division of Environmental Engineering and Water Resources, School of Civil and Structural Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this project is to develop a range of patented products that can be used in conjunction with rainwater catchments, treatment and distribution. The rainwater catchments will be designed to collect the maximum amount of water by using the minimum space. The rainwater treatment system will be designed for the cleansed rainwater will achieve the quality of drinking water. The distribution system will be designed to transport the water from the catchments to the existing home pipe system.

The benefits of implementing rainwater harvesting widely can be categorized to economical and environmental. Rainwater can be reused for toilet flushing, laundry and garden use alone, and these actions can reduce main water requirements of a typical household by 70%.[2] This shows how rainwater recycling can be lucrative economically. It is also beneficial economically from these aspects:

Rainwater falls for free. Reduces the dependency on municipal water thus reducing water bills. Reduces the need for and simultaneously the cost of pumping groundwater.

Rooftop rainwater harvesting is usually less expensive than other water sources.

Rooftop rainwater harvesting systems are easy to construct, operate, and maintain.

Rainwater is as safe as any source of water, provided certain safety precautions are taken as part of water capture, storage and distribution. In fact some also claim that

rainwater is safer than water supplied through mains or reticulated water systems. Our mains water is typically stored in dams and reservoirs, treated with chemicals such as chlorine to kill of bacteria and make it safe, and then pumped through a network of pipes throughout the community. Environmentally, rainwater harvesting brings positive affects because:

It helps reducing the significant damages to the creeks, water habitats and organisms caused by stormwater runoff.

It provides high-quality soft water that is low in mineral content. It can protect our supplies as the water supplies are falling and water restrictions are in place in many communities to reduce the overall water usage.

It can contribute to the mitigation of urban flooding and, as a result, reduces soil erosion in urban areas.

With the listed benefits of rainwater recycling, it is an obligation for our group to propagate awareness and consciousness to the society especially Malaysian and Malaysians authorized bodies of how important and valuable rainwater recycling is. The project will help to bring this idea up to realization by making the visual more solid to the society. Proving that it is not impossible, the society will have higher awareness of environment and the importance of conserving it.

[2] http://www.rainharvesting.com.au/ideal_uses_for_rainwater.asp

BACKGROUND
Fresh water is one of the most important natural resources which are the essence for survival. As water covers approximately three-fourth of the earths surface, only 3% of that figure is fresh water. As water demand keeps increasing with population, it is already rising that the earth lacks of fresh water substitutes. Therefore, maintaining the quality and quantity of water is a top priority. From a community level many water saving tactics can be implemented to conserve this most precious natural resource and one of them is rainwater harvesting.

Rainwater collection is not new to the world. Evidence shows that rainwater has been collected dating back to 4000 BC in countries such as India, Asia and the Middle East. Rainwater treatment was not crucial at those times as it was not as contaminated as it is now, parallel to the growth of industries. The rainwater nowadays could be contaminated due to the exposure to air pollution caused by industries such as cement kilns, gravel quarries, and automobile emissions. Rainwater treatment is to be implemented so the contaminants will be removed from the rainwater for it to safely be reused, or the most excellent, edible. Below shows the record of average rainfall in Ipoh in December 2006 together with the water consumed by Malaysian in a year. It also includes the average cost of water in a household in Malaysia.

Monthly average rainfall for Ipoh for December 2007 Normal monthly average rainfall Average urban Malaysian water used Average Rural Malaysia Water Use Cost for city water / m3 0-15m3 15.1 40 m3 > 40m3 Water used per month, 5 person / house Total cost

250 mm 100 mm 526 litres/person/day. 130.7 litres/person/day. RM 0.55 /m3 RM 0.85 /m3 RM 1.33 /m3 15.78 x 5 = 78.9 m3 RM 74.05

Table 1 : Average Water Usage[3] Table 2 shows the quality of city water which is the requirement of the end product of out CTD system Typical Analysis Potassium Calcium Sodium Magnesium pH Bicarbonate Sulphate Chloride mg/L 2.7 46 9.9 4.7 7.3 188 3 2

Total Dissolved Solids 315 Table 2 : City Water Quality[4]

[3] waterwatchpenang.org/the-3rconceptinwater.html [4]kjc.gov.my/English/service/climate/climateupd.html

DESIGN APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

The proposed rainwater harvesting system would involve using rainfall that would otherwise be collected as surface runoff and channeled through a storage tank. This system will also include the treatment and distribution system. The treatment system will produce an end product of water that qualifies the criteria for drinking water. The project will also include a design of piping system that will transport the treated water from the filter to the storage tank. Figure 1 shows a conventional piping system in Malaysia before CTD system is being installed, while Figure 2 illustrates the schematic diagram of the system. Figure 3 shows the initial design of CTD system after it is installed.

Figure 1: Conventional piping system in Malaysia

Collector

Tank with Filter

Pump

Home Water Tank

Pipe

Figure 2: Schematic of system

Figure 3: Initial design of piping system

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Timeline of the Project To ensure that the project will be according to the dateline that have been issued by the University, we have made a Gantt chart to marks the time period and dateline that we have for every steps of the project. The chart below shows the timeline for every process of the project.

Figure 4: The timeline for the project Besides the Gantt chart, there are also a few important dates that our team needs to keep in mind that requires us to submit reports, project evaluation, pre-EDX and etc. Below is the list of important dates: 4th of February 2008 25th of February 2008 24th of March 2008 9th of April 2008 30th of April 2008 : Proposal submission : Progress report submission : Expenditure form submission : Evaluation on fabrication : Final report submission

Pre-EDX and EDXs date has not been confirmed

Task Distribution

TASK Testing the composition of the rain water collected. From the test results, we will determine all the materials inside the rain water that need eliminate to make the quality of the rain water equal to the tap water. Finding a suitable filtering system for the rain water that will filter out all the unwanted material from the rain water Finding the suitable pump system to pump the water to the main water tank Find a suitable tank that will save space and hold a large volume of rain water. After finding all the suitable filtering system, pump system and water tank, all the system will undergoes a quality test to ensure all the system are according to the specification of our design. Building a down-scale model of the whole system for our presentation during pre-EDX and EDX. The final report will be done continuously, after the submission of the proposal to the 14th week of the semester. Table 3 : Task Distribution Group Hierrachy

ACTION Nurhakimah Mohd Nor

Suhaila Khai Logen Farhana All group members All group members All group members All group members

Director Logenthiran -Conduct all meeting -Distributing task to group members -Planning weekly agenda -Monitor progress of the project

Secretary Suhaila -Prepare minutes of meeting -Keep record all the data and document

Technical and Finance Siti Farhana -Prepare budget for the project -Manage account

Design and Analysis Khairulddin -Design the prototype of the project -Analyze the data

Research and Development Mohd Nor Nurhakimah -Research on composition of the material -Determine the suitable material for the project