Question

Explain how rainwater harvesting can help in water conservation.

Answer 1

Hint:Rainwater harvesting means to conserve the rainwater for future use. Rainwater can be collected using tubes or wells. These methods directly pour the rainwater into the groundwater level. The stored water then can be used for various household and agricultural purposes.

Complete answer:Rainwater harvesting is one of the easiest and effective ways of conserving water. Whenever it rains most of the rainwater gets seeped down the soils and adds up to the groundwater level. But due to urbanization, the soil areas are now covered by concrete roads. Due to this seeping effect is no more prominent. Increasing population and urbanization have also increased the water demand. Groundwater levels are getting depleted. Some of the regions have become drought areas due to the absence of groundwater.
Rainwater harvesting provides an effective way to overcome the above-mentioned problems. Tubes can be connected from roofs of houses directly to groundwater levels or water can be collected in wells. This stored water then can be used in various activities like irrigation, watering of plants, washing of clothes, etc. Also, the collected water in underground storage allows groundwater levels to recover. This is known as groundwater recharge. Rainwater can be purified easily and can be used for industrial and agricultural purposes. It confirms a personal water supply to the harvester. This way water can be conserved and no rainwater will go to waste. Rainwater harvesting requires no intense labor and machines. It can be done easily even on the roofs of the houses.
Thus, the above-mentioned reasons make rainwater harvesting an effective and easy way to conserve water.

Note: Areas, where clean water is costly and not available easily, can use rainwater harvesting as a cheap and reliable source of water. In agricultural rainwater harvesting, there is the assurance of prevention of field runoff due to rain. Aquacultures are also supplied by rainwater. Kenya is already able to use rainwater harvesting for toilets, gardening, drinking, washing, etc.