This document provides general guidance on the collection, care and storage of rainwater in domestic tanks. It is written especially for the Australian state, but is adaptable for other countries too.
ENHEALTH (2004): Guidance on the Use of Rainwater Tanks. Canberra: Environmental Health Committee (enHealth) URL [Accessed: 12.03.2019] PDFLibrary
The Blue Drop Series on Water Harvesting and Utilisation is divided into three and each one has a specific target group- policy makers, beneficiaries and capacity and implementing agencies. The publications give an overview of the concept of rainwater and have a focus on the legal and administrative framework for rainwater harvesting. Book 2: Beneficiaries & Capacity.
UN-HABITAT (2005): Rainwater Harvesting and Utilisation. Blue Drop Series, Book 2: Beneficiaries & Capacity. Nairobi: UN-Habitat URL [Accessed: 12.03.2019] PDFThis handbook serves as a practical guideline featuring best practice for RWH in small island Caribbean environments. It covers the most important topics on RTRWH using helpful illustrations and pictures.
CEHI (2009): Caribbean Rainwater Harvesting Handbook. Castries: Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI) URL [Accessed: 12.03.2019] PDFThis paper describes a case study of a house in Kathmandu where rainwater is used for all purposes including drinking, greywater is recycled for non drinkable purposes and human excreta is utilized as a fertilizer by adopting ecological sanitation technique.
SHRESTHA, R.R. (2010): Eco Home for Sustainable Water Management- A Case Study in Kathmandu. Kathmandu: United Nation Development Program (UNDP) URL [Accessed: 12.03.2019] PDFThis booklet explains how to collect, store and purify rainwater for direct use at household level. It is a practical guide to creating a rainwater harvesting infrastructure from design to implementation that is illustrated with pictures, tables and examples.
HATUM, T. WORM, J. (2006): Rainwater Harvesting for Domestic Use. Wageningen: Agrosima and CTA URL [Accessed: 12.03.2019] PDFWater harvesting has been practiced successfully for millennia in parts of the world – and some recent interventions have also had significant local impact. Yet water harvesting’s potential remains largely unknown, unacknowledged and unappreciated. These guidelines cover a wide span of technologies from large-scale floodwater spreading to practices that collect and store water from household compounds.
MEKDASCHI STUDER, R. LINIGER, H. (2013): Water Harvesting. Guidelines to Good Practice. Bern/Amsterdam/Wageningen/Rome: Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), Rainwater Harvesting Implementation Network (RAIN), MetaMeta, The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) URL [Accessed: 12.03.2019] PDFThis booklet on smart water harvesting describes a number of creative solutions in situations where there seems to be no water. It shows practical efforts to "create water", especially in drought prone areas. It does not limit itself to the act of harvesting, but includes capturing water during periods of rain, so that it is available for periods of drought. The book is an effective source of inspiration for local communities, civil engineers, NGOs, research institutes, donors and governments.
NWP (2007): Smart Water Harvesting Solutions . Examples of innovative low-cost technologies for rain, fog, runoff water and groundwater. (= Smart water solutions ). Amsterdam: KIT Publishers URL [Accessed: 12.03.2019] PDFThis website provides a brief overview on the most important topics of rainwater harvesting.
The Blue Drop Series on Water Harvesting and Utilisation is divided into three and each one has a specific target group- policy makers, beneficiaries and capacity and implementing agencies. The publications give an overview of the concept of rainwater and have a focus on the legal and administrative framework for rainwater harvesting. Book 3: Project Managers and Implementing Agencies.
UN-HABITAT (2005): Rainwater Harvesting and Utilisation. Blue Drop Series, Book 3: Beneficiaries & Capacity. Nairobi: UN-Habitat. . UN-Habitat URL [Accessed: 12.03.2019] PDFThe following report details the components and illustrates the highlights of a first flush system called the Brazilian Ball Pre-Filter System.
DOLMAN, B. LUNDQUIST, K. (2008): Roof Water Harvesting for a low Impact Water Supply: Featuring the Brazilian Ball Pre-Filter System: A Case Study. Occidental: The WATER Institute Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC) URL [Accessed: 12.03.2019] PDFThis is the story of how the youth in Kibera slum (Nairobi, Kenya) confront daily challenges on sanitation and hygiene. The young Kibera residents, who filmed and edited the film, range in age from 9 to 19 years. Kibera slum, Kenya and Africa's largest slum is home to about one million people living in abject poverty without clean water, toilets, electricity and sewerage. Time: 7”47. Language: English subtitles.
This book provides a general introduction to a wide range of technologies. Among the topics covered are: planning and management of small water supplies, community water supplies in Central and Eastern European countries, water quality and quantity, integrated water resources management, artificial recharge, rainwater harvesting, spring water tapping, groundwater withdrawal, water lifting, surface water intake, water treatment, aeration, coagulation and flocculation, sedimentation, multi-stage filtration, desalination technology, disinfection, household level water treatment, technologies for arsenic and iron removal from ground water, and emergency and disaster water supply. Chapter 7: Rain Water Harvesting
SMET, J. ; WIJK, C. van (2002): Small Community Water Supplies: Technology, People and Partnership: Rain Water Harvesting - Chapter 7. The Hague: International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) URL [Accessed: 12.03.2019] PDFThis website of the university of Warwick provides a broad range of technical manuals, case studies and general information on rainwater harvesting.
Well disinfection is used to inactivate or control bacteria populations in a well and the distribution system. This brochure describes the simple chlorination method.
AAFC (n.y): Water Well Disinfection – Using the Simple Chlorination Method. Water Stewardship Information Series. Ottawa: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). URL [Accessed: 11.03.2019] PDFMany people living in coastal regions rely on shallow groundwater for their water supply. Seawater flooding after a severe storm or tsunami can damage wells and contaminate the groundwater. This technical note provides advice for rehabilitating wells in such circumstances. It should be used in conjunction with Technical Note 1 which provides general information about rehabilitating wells after a disaster.
VILHOLTH, K. (2013): Cleaning Wells after Seawater Flooding. Technical Notes on WASH in Emergencies #15. Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) URL [Accessed: 11.03.2019] PDFThis fact sheet contains a step-by-step procedure for performing a simple disinfection of private wells and water (plumbing) systems using chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite).
MDH (2012): Well and Water System Disinfection for Private Wells. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) URL [Accessed: 11.03.2019] PDFThis report provides a summary of the study on how to optimise the costs of boreholes construction in Zambia, Ghana and Burkina Faso.
DUFFAU, B. OUEDRAOGO, I. (2009): Burkina Faso: Summary of Findings of 2009 Study and Draft National Code of Conduct. Code of Practice for Cost-Effective Boreholes. St. Gallen: Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) URL [Accessed: 11.03.2019] PDFThis manual explains in practical terms the basic drilling techniques. It describes the use of fluid circulation in soft ground formations, and com- pressed air and hammers for hard rock. It discusses well design, types of pump and their installation, screen selection, and testing.
BALL, P. (2001): Drilled Wells. (= Series of Manuals on Drinking Water Supply , 6 ). St. Gallen: Swiss Centre for Development Cooperation in Technology and Management (SKAT) URL [Accessed: 11.03.2019] PDFIncreasing access to groundwater is a high priority in Sub-Saharan Africa. One key to this is to reduce the costs of conventional drilling and borehole construction. This field note, describing a recent study in Ethiopia, sets out how this may be done.
CARTER, R. (2006): Ten-step Guide Towards Cost-effective Boreholes. Case Study of drilling costs in Ethiopia. St. Gallen: Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) URL [Accessed: 11.03.2019] PDF