Estimation of Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting Potential: A Proposed Solution to Water Scarcity in Shrigonda Town, Maharashtra, India

The burning issue in cities will be water scarcity in the coming years. The world population in cities has increased from 29.6 percent to 56.2 percent and is predicted to reach 68.4 percent by 2050. Therefore, this study has attempted to find a solution to tackle the urban water scarcity issue. Recently, rainwater harvesting has emerged as a sustainable and effective system for water conservation in urban areas. Hence, the ward-wise rooftop area was calculated and the rooftop rainwater harvesting potential was estimated by applying the Gould & Nissen, formula for Shrigonda Town. The result reveals that the total water demand in the water stress period was 41,34,41,010 litres while the total rainwater harvesting potential was 39,07,42,128 litres, which means about 94.51 % of the total demand will be met after the rooftop rainwater harvesting system is installed. The study concludes that rooftop rainwater harvesting is considered a sustainable and best alternative tool to tackle urban water scarcity.