Maintenance and Monitoring
Once you have installed a RWH system it is a good idea to also set a system for monitoring.
- How much water you are catching
- How much of this you are using
- How much you are recharging
- This will help you to provide concrete evidence of the impact of rainwater harvesting
- If the data is positive it will help to catalyse other people to follow in your footsteps.
How can you monitor quantity of water recharged?
Groundwater recharge:
- Water level monitoring – using a water level indicator
- Infiltration test – using a flow and water level meter
- Frequency of monitoring – Monthly, pre and post-monsoon
- Can arrive at trends of water table
- Monitoring extraction from tubewell will give you total extraction. (Hours of pumping X yield of tubewell)
CSE has been regularly monitoring water levels in 21 model RWH projects.
What we found was that in the places where rainwater harvesting was undertaken, the water levels had not declined.
In the same period, there was a general decline in the water table in the areas of Delhi where the model projects were situated.
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