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Nowadays the world population increases, so the demand for clean water is rising. Rain is the faster resource that can recharge compared to ground water. Rainwater harvesting system (RWHS) is one of the traditional and easiest ways of rising fresh water supplies. This system already implements by many countries in the world as a viable decentralized water source. Malaysia can be classified as a country with high annual rainfall and high consumption of domestic water. Malaysia is well and strategically positioned to harvest rainwater for both potable and non-potable uses. This research describes the collaborative and development affordable technology for capturing and retaining runoff starting from rooftop gutter until the tank storage using as a valuable source of water and recharge the percolation well and increase ground water level. The developed system consists of soil sensor, integrated water pump, Arduino controller and water tank harvesting with dynamic mechanical flushing technique which improving filtration method. The results show that the system can be efficiently used for small-scale drip irrigation especially in urbanization farming as nowadays scenario of agriculture demand. Hopefully, this can be helpful as a valuable water source in future.
Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Jasin Campus, Melaka, Malaysia
Abdul Qudus Puteh
Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Jasin Campus, Melaka, Malaysia
Alawi Haji Sulaiman
Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Jasin Campus, Melaka, Malaysia
Mohamad Hakim Mohamad Yatim
Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Jasin Campus, Melaka, Malaysia
*Address all correspondence to: hudzari@uitm.edu.my
1. Introduction
1.1 Background of study
Water is nature’s gift for the good purpose of living on the earth. The righteous book of Al-Quran as in Sura Al Anbiya verse 30, mentioned that water is the source for living. To survive, living things, humans and plants need water as an important source. Nowadays, water shortage becomes a major issue. The increasing population causes a high demand for water. To overcome the water issue, water can be collected from rainwater as an alternative where it can be used for daily routine such as bathing, watering plants, vertical farming, and washing the car. Rainwater harvesting system is the best solution and it’s appropriate to do it in Malaysia because our country receives 990 billion m3 of rainfall per year. (Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia).
The rainwater harvesting system (RWHS) is an alternative way of agriculture activity. The agriculture sector is the most water use compared to other industries. It can collect rainwater from the rooftop and open space. The scale of the rainwater catchment area is depended on the area of the roof and demand. Even though the rainwater harvesting system has the potential for agriculture like irrigation, but there are still drawbacks to this system, particularly in large-scale projects that cannot be applied to gain potential output and best result.
The aim of this study is to develop a prototype system for sustainable agriculture. The source of water for this system is derived from the original rainwater source. In order to allow the water to flow out from the tank, a sensor remote is needed.
In ancient times, rainwater was used to persevere. The use of the rainwater harvesting system has two main aims. The first was to provide water for various household activities, especially drinking, bathing, etc. Secondly, rainwater evaporation from some of the domestic ones impounding systems such as pools and reservoirs made some sort of air-conditioning feeling available which has improved more or less on the microclimate, making it cooler and more comfortable.
Rainwater was the primary source of water supply in old days for drinkable and non-drinkable uses because water supply systems are not yet in development. Simplest method used to make a rainwater harvesting system. No treatment was applied to the collected rainwater before it was used. The systems can be categorized as small, medium and large scale [1]. Normally, the size of rainwater harvesting was based on the size of the catchment area [2].
Rainwater has a lot of potential as the main water resource for the future because of its high quality [3]. Clean rainwater collected not only solved the water crisis problem but also reduce the water treatment cost. For the economic benefit. This system can reduce or cut the utility bill for domestic water. So, RWHS is implemented if the water tariff is higher.
2.2 Drivers for RWHS
Rainwater Harvesting System has been used in the water supply system for many years, and has been around for this reason:
Water Scarcity
Water scarcity may be due to a lack of adequate surface area and improper control of groundwater resources, polluted land, and groundwater resources and insufficient support for programs to harness and distribute water.
Reduce flooding and erosion
This system can help reduce erosion around downspouts and in the garden. It controls the stormwater run-off.
Reduce water bills
The use of rainwater can substantially reduce the cost to supply main water services. When needed, the rainwater acts as a substitute for a backup source.
For sustainable agriculture
The collection of rainwater can be used to boost plants and gardens too. The salt accumulation can be flushed from plants and soil using collected water. Harvested rainwater is usually free of different forms of pollutants and man-made toxins. Rain is also chlorine-free.
2.3 Benefits of the rainwater harvesting system
The harvesting of rainwater is the element of sustainable agriculture and tends to bring a variety of value not just for users but also environment and government (Table 1).
User
Government
Environment
Rainwater is safe, free from disease and an adequate source of water.
Replace the old system in supply water for infrastructure.
Improve soil moisture level
This method is inexpensive and was easy to maintain.
It may reduce the cost of public water system access.
Reduce the amount of rainwater flow to the drainage that can cause floods to happen.
The system is easy and very user friendly
suitable for ecosystems and plants grow well on rainwater compare to use other sources that may have an element that contaminates plant and soils.
Save cost by cutting the amount of water purchased from domestic systems.
Away from overuse of water are well.
Table 1.
Benefits of the rainwater harvesting system.
2.4 Working principle of the rainwater harvesting system
Nowadays, the rainwater harvesting system is well known to the public regarding its function and benefits. However, the working process still has the same basic method and component. There are six basic components for a domestic rainwater harvesting system:
The catchment surface: Surface allowing water to collect from the rain, such as a rooftop. The size of the catchment area determines how much rainwater is harvested.
Gutter and downspouts: Channel where the water flows into the storage tank.
Leaf screens: The screens get rid of the waste, dust, dry/dead leaves from the rainwater captured.
Water storage tanks: where the catchment water is collected before it is distributed to the ground.
Delivery system: after water passes the filtration water will distribute through remote sensor piping and pump system.
Treatment: the filtration system to ensure the water captured is clean and secure.
The location of study is at University Technology MARA Campus Jasin Melaka. This location is chosen because accessible, safe and complete facilities are available to perform a rainwater harvesting system field experiment.
3.2 Research design
The study utilized data from the experiment and tested the method of collecting rainwater against soil moisture. The work was carried with a guideline and procedure. The water obtained from the rainfall was stored in a small tank where it was installed on the device. To disperse the water to the soil, the water tank already applies with a remote sensor where it detects the soil moisture.
3.3 Development and methodology
This study used a rainwater harvesting system as a source of water for good agriculture practices. To complete the research and run the test, a rainwater harvesting system with a remote sensor is built to detect moisture. To construct the system, a few factors need to be considered in the design of the system:
Size of PVC tubing or pipeline Influence the water flow from the tank to the ground.
The water tank should have enough water at all times because the water pump is high pressure. This is to avoid running out of water which can interfere with the smooth running of the system.
The high placement of the water tank is very important to give an advantage to the pipeline to disperse water with long distance.
3.3.1 Mechanization of rainwater harvesting system prototype
The basic part and component to build a prototype of a rainwater harvesting system are (Table 2):
Table 2.
Basic part and component of gravitational drip irrigation system.
3.3.2 Prototype rainwater harvesting installation process
3.3.2.1 Main installation process
The first installation is applying the mini water pump. The function of the water pump is assisted to disperse the water from tank storage to the soil through PVC tubing (Figures 1–3).
Figure 1.
Installation of mini water pump.
Figure 2.
Arduino UNP R3, relay module and soil moisture sensor.
The second stage is the Arduino UNP R3, relay module and soil moisture sensor installation. At this stage, the Arduino UNP connects to the relay using a jump wire. Soil moisture sensors are installed to detect soil moisture.
3.3.2.3 PVC tubing installation
The installation of PVC tubing is safe transportation of rainwater.
This chapter will outline the project’s design and construction process. To complete the project, all equipment structures in this project must be evaluated, and all specifications must be fully implemented.
4.2 General concept
The Arduino microcontroller will be used for the main system in this project. Arduino has been chosen because it has several suitable hardware modules for Arduino boards themselves [4, 5]. There are several Arduino hardware components that can be attached to the Arduino plate, such as micro/mini water pump, soil moisture sensor, and power sources. The equipment and components used in the rainwater harvesting system are:
4.2.1 Soil moisture sensor
The Soil Moisture Sensor is used as the key component to achieve the objective in this analysis. The role of the sensor is to use the capacity to measure soil water content and it is very easy to use [6]. Only insert this robust sensor into the soil to be checked, and the volumetric water content of the soil is recorded as a percentage (%). Table 3 and Figure 4 show the specification of the Soil Moisture Sensor, as well as the sensor image.
Type
Specification
Model
The model of this sensor is series FC 28
Type of Model
Soil Moisture Sensor
Operating Voltage
The available voltage of this sensor is 3 mA @ 5 V DC
Output Current
0–4.2 V
Operating Temperature
This sensor can withstand temperatures of −40°C to +60°C
Typical Resolution
0.1%
Measuring Range
0 to 45% volumetric soil water content (available at 0 to 100% VWC with alternating calibration)
Accuracy
The level detection accuracy reading is within 4%
Table 3.
Moisture sensor module specification.
Figure 4.
The moisture sensor.
4.2.2 Arduino UNO
Arduino is a microcontroller board which is open-source hardware. The term “UNO” in Italian means “ONE” and was chosen to mark the initial release of Arduino Software. The Uno board is the first in a series of Arduino UNO board based on USBArduino Uno has 14 digital pins, six analog pins, a USB interface, an ICSP header, a power barrel port, and a reset button. This Arduino UNO is used after upload coding to store data, and the project can fully function with a power supply without being connected to a laptop or computer. Table 4 shows the technical specification of this board. Figure 5 shows the Arduino UNO board.
Type
Specification
Microcontroller
The microcontroller used is ATmega8U2 model
Operating Voltage
Only 5 volts of operating voltage
Analog Input Pins
This board includes six analog input pins to be used
Flash Memory
32 KB (0.5 KB is used for Bootloader)
Frequency (Clock Speed)
16 MHz
Digital I/O Pins
14 (Out of which 6 provide PWM output)
Table 4.
Arduino UNO technical specification.
Figure 5.
Arduino UNO board.
4.2.3 Jumper wire
Jumper wire is used to connect several components and parts to the Arduino UNO board. For example, Jumper wire act as a bridge to connect the moisture sensor to the Arduino UNO board. Table 5 shows the jumper wire specification and Figure 6 shows the picture of jumper wire (Figure 7).
Type
Specification
Size
The size of the jumper wire pin header for this project is 0.1 “
Length
The length of every one jumper wire is 180 mm
Table 5.
Jumper wire specification.
Figure 6.
Mini water pump.
Figure 7.
Jumper wire.
4.2.4 Mini water pump
In this study related to the water system, the Mini/Micro Water Pump is used since it integrates easily. The water pump operates with a water suction system that collects the water through its inlet and releases it through the outlet. Table 6 shows the jumper wire specification and Figure 8 shows the picture of jumper wire (Table 7).
Type
Specification
DC Voltage
3-5 V
Maximum Lift
40-110 cm / 15.75″-43.4″
Flow rate
1.2–1.6 L/H
Working life
500 Hr
Material
engineering plastic
Outside diameter of water outlet
7.5 mm/0.3″
Inside diameter of water outlet
4.7 mm/0.18″
Weight
30 g
Table 6.
The mini water pump specification.
Figure 8.
Project prototype.
Hardware component project
Function (%)
Soil Moisture Sensor
Sensor detected
100
Analog reading
100
MINI WATER PUMP
Water flows out of the pump when the sensor detects low humidity
100
Water does not flow out of the pump when the sensor detects low humidity
100
Table 7.
Result of system functionality testing.
4.3 Maintenance of the system
Every rainwater harvesting system has the same technique and method to do their maintenance. To cut the cost of maintenance, work should be done carefully and properly during the installation stage. The purpose of maintenance is to make sure the operating system is running smoothly. Need to ensure the water source free from unwanted things that can cause clogging happen at the water tank or PVC tubing.
Factors need to focus and consider during the maintenance of the system:
Water storage tank – Should always check the tank ‘s cleanliness and ensure that water is always available to the system for smooth operation.
Filtration - filters should be maintained periodically to avoid any damage to the system.
Transportation and delivery system – All plastic water-supply facilities will last longer. However, periodic inspections are required to ensure all appliances are in good condition.
4.3.1 Prototype project
To complete this a prototype project, a container with soil was used to place a soil moisture sensor in it. Thereafter, the entire project is tested to achieve the project objectives.
4.4 Performance of the developing rainwater harvesting system using soil moisture sensor
The functions of each component within the project are tested and recorded for final results. There are several components that need to be tested such as soil moisture sensors, mini water pumps and PVC tubing to prevent clogging. The ability of these components to work well proves that this prototype has been successfully implemented.
4.4.1 Evaluation function testing project
The prototype will be checked multiple times to ensure the proper functioning of each part within it. To submit information to the water pump acting as output, the soil moisture sensor data will be interpreted. It is intended to prevent and minimize accidents that result in injury during operations [7, 8]. All of the errors may affect the achievement of this study’s objectives.
4.4.2 Prototype project unit testing and functional testing
Table 6 shows the complete results of the prototype system for this study. No error occurred at the end of the test after the prototype execution was complete. From this analysis, it can be assumed that it is applied effectively and according to the actual requirements. In this study the most important thing is to ensure that the sensor works properly to detect moisture in the soil. So, it can receive data and transmit information so that other components can effectively perform their tasks. This makes it easier for consumers such as farmers to control the amount of water to crops.
4.5 Discussions
The rainwater harvesting system has been selected as the watering system for agricultural sustainability. The performance of the system has achieved the real objectives of this study. This device is maintained to supply an adequate quantity of water for plant production. So, this system is very relevant to be used by the small-scale farm.
The research was conducted to build a rainwater harvesting system prototype. This is also intended to assess the efficiency of the device against soil moisture. The data were obtained at the MARA Campus Jasin University of Technology. Shape the data, which may be linked to the objectives of this stud. The results show the prototype function very well to detect the soil moisture.
Next, proper utilization of this system will help restore the deteriorated aquatic ecosystem and mitigate global climate change. However, research into this knowledge needs to be improved to obtain a greater result, especially for the agricultural sector. A researcher studying irrigation will consider the effective harvesting of rainwater for agricultural irrigation a significant subject.
As a conclusion. Rainwater harvesting has been proved to be efficient in an irrigation system for plant growth. Based on the study, it has been estimated that the RWHS gives a good impact and good vibes to the small-scale farm.
5.2 Recommendation
For the recommendation, to enhance the performance rainwater catchment tanks should be in a high place to facilitate the movement of water. This system required a large size of water storage so the water harvested can hold for a long period and facing no problem during the dry season. It also can improve field performance and capability. For the filtration stage, regular maintenance and check must be done to avoid any clogging.
In many developing countries, this system does not get full attention and is less attractive as installation and maintenance are very costly. The low tariff of domestic water resources also causes the factor less attractive to the system. To implement the rainwater harvesting system’s success, the government plays an important role to help give some support, especially during the initial stage. Many kinds of approaches can be done by the government such as doing advertisements through media social, television, and new paper. They also can organize an exhibition regarding this system to expose its function and its benefits.
In Malaysia, to introduce the system need to educate the public through a formal and informal forum such as among students in the school, college and etc. The benefits can be fully highlighted by providing the proper tools where it seems could be effective to encourage the public to save water. The behavior of the public about water use can be changed once the water tariff getting higher. They also find an alternative if they experienced a long drought season and lack water resources.
The authors would like to acknowledge the role of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTECC) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) for providing grants funding of 100-IRMI/GOV 16/6/2 (025/2019) and 600-RMC/LESTARI SDG-T 5/3 (077/2019), and all staff in Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, UiTM Melaka, in facilitating the field trials and allow to conduct this research.
References
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Written By
Mohd Hudzari Haji Razali, Abdul Qudus Puteh, Alawi Haji Sulaiman and Mohamad Hakim Mohamad Yatim
Submitted: 23 February 2022Reviewed: 09 March 2022Published: 18 January 2023
Open access peer-reviewed chapter
