Application of Geographical Information Systems in Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting
摘要
Water plays a key role in the earth’s ecosystem and is a vital natural resource for sustaining life and the environment within the present cenario of worldwide global warming. The supply of water is a major concern due to rapid urbanization and poor recharge of groundwater due to concrete infrastructure, especially in metropolitan cities. In order to counter water scarcity problems, rainwater harvesting is one of the simplest and most effective practices. In India, Hyderabad is a fast-growing city in terms of population and development for a decade and faces severe water problems during the summer season. To decline these issues, a study was conducted on a particular location, Miyapur. To evaluate the potentiality of rain harvesting, surface areas of roofs are obtained by employing geographical information systems (GIS), and further interpretations were done to obtain a slope map, contour map, and flow direction map. Further, the total water demand for the selected area was calculated considering the prevailing population. The potential rainwater harvesting sites are identified based on the GIS map according to the lowest elevation and drainage direction of the study area. The results of this study provide rainwater harvesting potential and water demand to avoid water shortage in the study area. Rainwater harvesting provides water at the purpose of demand, and it is an effective and eco-friendly solution to meet the various demands.