Seeking assistant to restructure Watershed for rainwater harvesting.

Published on by in Non Profit

Dear Experts, 

I am building a model farm to demonstrate the efficient use of water and healthy way of producing agriculture output.

Hence, I have setup watershed to receive and store rain water, practicing cheaper and efficient farming techniques, organic fertilizers, created a mini-forest for fruits and temperature reduction and much more.

Though I have created a watershed structures, I was unable to direct the rain water to the storage - I see a failure in creating a slope in the fields to narrow the water to the passage.

I am in need of help to rectify the errors in my farm so that I should be able to store the rain water.

 

Thanks

Murthi

Taxonomy

8 Answers

  1. Hi,  it looks like you may need to install some sub-surface drains to get the rainwater off the lands and into the channels.  This could be a porous pipe at every 10 to 20 m draining across the land into your channels, buried at about 600mm deep and wrapped in geotextile.  Alternatively you could dig trenches and pack them with gravel covered with river sand draining into the channels if you cannot get or afford porous pipes and geotextile. kind of like this

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I ↑

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I open channel towards tank

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I

    subsurface drainage channels sloping towards open channel  →

    1 Comment

  2. Hi

    Much clearer. My only suggestion is to not capture the water after it runs through the system. You wil be picking up dirt and Organics causing water issues in warm weather. Rainwater is best captures off roofs. Otherwise your system offers a great way to capture and control the water for your plants. Good luck.

    1 Comment

  3. You have many options. What you are describing is TIERED agricultural. (steps). This type is most popular in china. See if this fits your plans.  Build a retaining wall at the end of each step. Strong enough to hold back the water.  If you are growing rice allow the rain to flood the field. Select a bottom feeding fish and place them into the water. Fish will supply oxygen so will not get stagnate. When you harvest rice harvest also. Still need compost. For reserve rainwater higher up the hill find and dig out a large rainwater pond. If too much soil line with bricks/mortar add mineral rocks. descending canal to contiguous step fields. Easy to open and close flow gates.  If evaporation concern the your canal should be a special design. I will try to type it.  Standard canals look like this:   I_______I.    low evaporation canals look like this:  /_______\     Base is 3 feet and top is 1 foot.  Your design 6 feet base and 6 inch open at top. You decide.   Chinese also chop the top off rock mountains bevel it out for a few hundred hectares catch the rain, large step fields, farmers build a home there, tend to field daily.  So many options that are inexpensive and simple.  Just need to learn natures rules and all will become clear.

     

    1 Comment

  4. Apologies on the clarity on the requirement  and overwhelmed on the response received

    Steve Williams ,Liang Qiao ,Guy McGowen , Ian Pearson  as this is my first question :

    Here are my clarifications : 

    1) The water collection is setup in my agriculture farm

    2) The farm is of 4 step land, where I have tank on each step portion and linked a canal to the large pond.

    3) The land is not slope to drain the rain water to the tank, so the rain water stagnated in the field and evaporates.

    I have video captured, It is in the below link

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/QK15zzFQOX8p4RJF2

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/KJhE8vpnMVMWz7Uj2

     

    Attached is the detailed picture of my farm land and the watershed created.

     

    Thanks

    Murthi

  5. Murthi,

    As mentioned by the other responses it is hard to visualize. If you are collecting from roofs use the term rainwater and of collecting off the ground use the term stormwater. Both can be helpful. If you can share some photos it wood be helpful.

    Also these nook by Brad Lancaster are very helpful.

    https://www.harvestingrainwater.com/

  6. To collect and store the rain water, you can have a water tank or build a dam at the downsteam of the creek. You have to make sure, don't build them at the upstream.

    Answered on by

  7.  Ditto on the clarity of your request.  May I suggest a long term solution for maximum results.

     Rain water collection usually means  from the roof tops of buildings.  1). repair your roofs, add collection gutters, and either have a very large cistern  below ground, barrels, or flow into a water truck for transport convenience. 2) rain water collection is useless unless you are making and using your own compost. Building your soils fertility using compost will hold the water longer reducing the actual the water needed for plants. Decreasing runoff by 50%. 3) If using chemical fertilizers or pesticides STOP at once. By adding microbes and seasalts your plant nutritional requirement will be met. Make compost tea for delivery and side dressing when needed. We currently have most world records on crop size, high brix, and yield. These methods are not mans, but natures rules. We just followed her rules and received these results.  Still have not figured out how to use their file transfer platform.  If additional info requested let me know.

  8. Hi Thanika, cant quite visualise your situation, but it seems you have constructed or are planning to construct channels to collect and direct the rainfall runoff to a surface storage reservoir.  It may be wise to consider an approach whereby you install rock structures (or gabions) in the channels to slow down the flow in the channels to minimise erosion and reduce velocities.  Using the standard rainfall-runoff and open channel flow equations (e.g. rational method) you can estimate your flows, velocities, depth of flow in the channels and sediment transport potential.  

    Not sure if this is what you are asking? 

    If the challenge is to get sufficient runoff during a rainfall event to direct to your storage reservoir, you could consider methods to improve runoff on un-cultivated areas through compaction, spraying with a dust suppression polymer or other options.

     

     

    1 Comment

    1. Hi Ian,

      Thanks for responding.

       

      Improve runoff ​on un-​cultivated ​areas through ​compaction, ​spraying with a ​dust suppression ​polymer or ​other options. ​

      Can you provide some specific inputs how should I achieve the run off improvements.

      I have left the land un-cultivated to enable the water collection and reuse.

       

      Thanks