Rainwater harvesting
accumulation of rainwater for reuse
Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rainwater, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), aquifer, or a reservoir with percolation, so that it seeps down and restores the ground water. Rainwater harvesting differs from stormwater harvesting as the runoff is typically collected from roofs and other area surfaces for storage and subsequent reuse. Its uses include watering gardens, livestock, irrigation, domestic use with proper treatment, and domestic heating. The harvested water can also be used for long-term storage or groundwater recharge.
Rainwater harvesting is one of the simplest and oldest methods of self-supply of water for households, having been used in South Asia and other countries for many thousands of years. Civilizations such as the Romans developed extensive water collection systems, including aqueducts and rooftop channels, which laid the groundwork for many of the modern gutter-based systems still in use today. Installations can be designed for different scales, including households, neighbourhoods, and communities, and can also serve institutions such as schools, hospitals, and other public facilities.
Uses
Domestic use
Rooftop rainwater harvesting is used to provide drinking water, domestic water, water for livestock, water for small irrigation, and a way to replenish groundwater levels.
Kenya has already been successfully harvesting rainwater for toilets, laundry, and irrigation.
“Rainwater harvesting” enters the record as accumulation of rainwater for reuse. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Rainwater, harvesting and accumulation can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2137507. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rainwater harvesting” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.