The rain water is the purest form of water. Therefore, the rain water collected from neat and clean surfaces like terrace can be directly used. It is advisable to filter and boil the water so collected as when it runs on the surface source dust particles may come with it.
Soil Lithology and Rain Water Harvesting
The quantum of the rain water which can be harvested are recharged into the underground aquifer depends on the nature of the soil. The design of the RWH structures depends on the soil nature. If the soil is having good permeability, water will be recharged fast but if the permeability of the soil is poor, the water recharge will be very slow. For example, the permeability of sandy soil is good and of clay is poor. Therefore, it can be seen that the water drains/seeps underground very fast while in clay it is very slow.
Therefore the RWH structure is to be designed in such a way that through recharge pits/bores the water is taken upto sandy strata so that the rate of percolation is fast.
The map below indicates various soil zones in Chennai city and the desired depth of the RWH structures.