Abstract:
Rain water harvesting is the technology used for collecting and
storing of rainwater from land surface, rock catchment and roof using
simple or complex technique. Contour and staggered trenches are cheapest
methods of runoff harvesting and ground water recharge. They also help in
retaining moisture on and near the ground surface thereby enabling
establishment of vegetation . Thus it helps in improving the wastelands into
productive ones.
The present study was conducted in Chelloor region of Kuttippuram
gramapanchayat during the period of January 2005 to January 2006. the
main objectives of the study were to conduct field topographic survey,
calculation of runoff, design of staggered trenches and its positioning using
geographic co-ordinates.
The procedure followed, involved
the calculation of the runoff
potential of the area for the year 2005, measurement of infiltration capacity
of the soil on the surface and after a little excavation, design of staggered
trenches so as to harvest a fixed percentage of the runoff, and positioning of
thr trenches using geographic co-ordinates.
The results of the study revealed that the hill top of Chelloor is having a
catchment area of 4.69 ha with high runoff potential. The infiltration
capacity of lower layers of soil was found to be higher than the undisturbed
soil surface. Staggered trenches 3m x 40cmx 30 cm spaced 3m between
trenches and 5.5m between rows can harvest almost 50 % of the runoffoccurring from the area ( water conservation efficiency of 48.2 % is obtained
based on runoff data for the year 2005).
The positioning of the trenches can be much easily done than other
conventional methods using GIS and GPS.
