In Jordan, rooftops are commonly cleaned before the winter and are used to collect rainfall. This is usually done for drinking purposes, especially in rural areas where water supply is not adequate especially during the summer. Collected water is stored in concrete tanks that are usually built in or below the house basement level. To use this water, residents pump the water up again to smaller tanks installed on the rooftops.

For agriculture, rain water is harvested in earth dams. These vary in sizes depending on location. Usually, these dams are constructed to capture flash floods in the dry areas of east and south Jordan.

There are other techniques used in Jordan as well, so if you're interested let me know.

Best wishes,

Samer

Dear Sarada,

Rainwater harvesting is a technique of collection and storage of rainwater into natural reservoirs or tanks, or the infiltration of surface water into subsurface aquifers .

Around the third century BC, the farming communities in Balochistan (now located in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran), and Kutch, India, used rainwater harvesting for irrigation.]In ancient Tamil Nadu (India), rainwater harvesting was done by Chola kings Rainwater from the Brihadeeswara temple (located in Balaganpathy Nagar, Thanjavur, India) was collected in Shivaganga tank.During the later Chola period, the Vīrānam tank was built (1011 to 1037 CE) in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu to store water for drinking and irrigation purposes. Vīrānam is a 16-kilometre (9.9 mi) long tank with a storage capacity of 1,465,000,000 cubic feet (41,500,000 m3).

Rainwater harvesting was done in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh in the olden days  Ratanpur, in the state of Chhattisgarh, had around 150 ponds. Most of the tanks or ponds were utilised in agriculture works.

Currently in China and Brazil rooftop rainwater harvesting is being practiced for providing drinking water, domestic water, water for livestock, water for small irrigation and a way to replenish groundwater levels. Gansu province in China and semi-arid north east Brazil have the largest rooftop rainwater harvesting projects ongoing.

In Bermuda the law requires all new construction to include rainwater harvesting adequate for the residents.

The U.S. Virgin Islands have a similar law.

In Senegal and Guinea-Bissau the houses of the Diola people are frequently equipped with homebrew rainwater harvesters made from local, organic materials.

In the Irrawaddy Delta of Myanmar, the groundwater is saline and communities rely on mud-lined rainwater ponds to meet their drinking water needs throughout the dry season. Some of these ponds are centuries old and are treated with great reverence and respect.

In the United States: until 2009 in Colorado, water rights laws almost completely restricted rainwater harvesting; a property owner who captured rainwater was deemed to be stealing it from those who have rights to take water from the watershed. Now, residential well owners that meet certain criteria may obtain a permit to install a rooftop precipitation collection system (SB 09-080). Up to 10 large scale pilot studies may also be permitted (HB 09-1129).[ The main factor in persuading the Colorado Legislature to change the law was a 2007 study that found that in an average year, 97% of the precipitation that fell in Douglas County, in the southern suburbs of Denver, never reached a stream—it was used by plants or evaporated on the ground. In Colorado you cannot even drill a water well unless you have at least 35 acres (14 ha). In New Mexico, rainwater catchment is mandatory for new dwellings in Santa FeTexas offers a sales tax exemption on the purchase of rainwater harvesting equipment. Both Texas[ and Ohio allow the practice even for potable purposes. Oklahoma passed the Water for 2060 Act in 2012, to promote pilot projects for rainwater and graywater use among other water saving techniques.

In Beijing some housing societies are now adding rain water in their main water sources after proper treatment.

In Ireland Professor Micheal Mcginley established a project to design a rain water harvesting prototype in the Biosystems design Challenge Module at University College Dublin

regards,

Prem Baboo

rainwaterguide.pdf

A Dutch invention called the Groasis Waterboxx is also useful for growing trees with harvested and stored dew and rainwater

I would call this response a reversal of channelization or deeply entrenched channels that has modified the hydrology.  Gully networks as natural or man induced responses can effectively increase stream network and reduce water tables and moisture of the landscape.  Some of my work has been related to gully analysis and control measures. 

Another relative innovative approach is what we commonly call groundwater dams.  These dams are buried logs and clay materials as needed across the valley bottom to create increased storage of groundwaters and potential increases for streamflow as a result.  If the dams are too high, it may add to flooding and hydration of the floodplain and riparian area.  I am attaching a project sent to me from Kentucky using some of these made popular by Art Parola and Tom Bigbeehouser (references).  I had a paper from SW USA where a gullied ephemeral channel in dry area was plugged in various places and these small plugs in the channel helped to raise the water table and increase streamflow to perennial. 

My point is that by restoring hydrology and perhaps returning to native plant species that can handle the normal climate extremes, we can improve stream flow and stability if these improvements are not managed such as by over-grazing cattle.  We don't necessarily have to build dams to store water, and in places like Colorado where water is so regulated, may be fine with gully control not recognizing that it will also be reversing the water table back in time when the stream had connectivity with its floodplain.

There is a digital book from 2015:

TÉCNICAS TRADICIONALES

DE CAPTACIÓN Y USO DEL AGUA.El conocimiento hidráulico tradicional como base para la innovación, published by the Catholic University of Ávila (Spain). The main author is Jorge Mongil Manso. You can find him in Researchgate.

The book is a compilation of the different ways to harvest water worldwide.

In our state Govt shows the following calculation for rooftop rainwater harvesting.

Let us suppose the system has to be designed to meeting drinking water requirement of a five member family in a building with a roof top area of 100 Sq. Mt. in Purulia district of West Bengal. The daily requirement of water per head per day for drinkng and cooking is 7 litres (as per WHO standard). Including waste we can say it is 10 litres per head per day. So total requirement of the family is 10 ×5=50 litres per day.

Area of the catchment (A)   = 100 sq. m

Height of rainfall in Purulia  (R)     = 1.364 m

(Height of rainfall means annual total rainfall)

Volume of rainfall (in litres)/100 sq. mt. Flat terrace :

(area of terrace × height of rainfall) = (100 × 1.364)cu.m

                                                         = 136.4 cu. m

                                                         = 136400 litres

(1 cu. m of water means 1000 litres of water)

Volume of effectively harvested rainwater (in litres) = 81840 litres.

(Assuming that 60% of the total rainfall is effectively harvested)

(Assuming, monsoon extending over 4 months or 120 days)

The dry period = 365-120 = 245 days

Drinking and cooking water requirement for the family (dry season) = 245 × 5 × 10 litres

                 = 12,250 litres

As a safety factor, the tank should be built 20% larger than required, i.e. 14,700 litres storage tank can meet the basic drinking water requirement of a 5-member family for the dry period.

But the problem is

A storage tank of capacity of approximately 15,000 litre means three 5,000 litre tanks should be installed beside one household. One 5,000-litre tank means a tank with diameter of 2 m. and height of 3.5 m. with concrete basement. It means that the tank will be as high as one storied building.

Can anybody suggest any other volume design of the storage tank which will be more suitable and economically feasible with respect to space and money?

Dr. Mandal,

Please have a look at these references if they help in your research.. Best, 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272237307_Rainwater_Harvesting_Practices

+ its datasets in my RG site.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272408094_Rainwater_Harvesting_and_Water_Management

+ its data sets in my RG site.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289250233_Water_Management_Rainwater_Harvesting_A_Training_Manual

Book Rainwater Harvesting Practices.

Book Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management.

Book Water Management & Rainwater Harvesting: A Training Manual

dear Sarada 

 attached are two techniques used to harvest water in Kordufan region Sudan

regards

 Saif  

 Thanks and regards to all respondents. 

Rain water harvesting is the collection and storage of rain water for reuse on site, rather than allowing it to run off. These stored water are used for varous purposes such as gardening, irrigation etc. 

Please go through the pdf attachments for different techniques of water harvesting.