A Progress Report

Innovating the Design of Rainwater Filter For Electricity and Water Conservation

Group Members:

Nur Farah Hani binti Nor Alzahari

Nur Fatihah binti Zainal Abidin

Submission to:
Dr Safiah Sidek

Date: 20th February 2016

B041520014 (Leader)
B041520015

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Objectives of The Project
1) To analyse the problem that occur in the existing designs of rainwater filters and find
the best solution due to the problems.
2) To design a rainwater filter that uses only potential energy to replace the use of
electricity to make the system work.

1.2 Background Information

Rainwater can be recycled into quality water for domestic use and irrigation. It is
naturally soft compared to well water due to its microstructure that does not contain
dissolved minerals or salts, free of chemical treatment. It is also a relatively reliable
source of water for households. Rainwater can be the most reliable water resources
after the rivers [Hamidah, 2010]. Hamidah [2010] argued that Malaysia has great
potential in the use of rainwater as an alternative water source due to an average rainfall
of 3000mm per year.
Due to the existence of abundance of water supply, Malaysian tends to waste a lot
of water. Specifically, toilet flushing approximately use 35% of water usage in house,
while washing machines at approximately 15%. They use clear water form tap to wash
clothes, gardening and toilet flushing even though all the works can be done using
rainwater collected.
There are many ways to save water. We can turn off the tap when brushing our
teeth, placing cistern displacement device in the toilet cistern to reduce the volume of
water used in each flush. When washing motorcycles or cars, use a pail of water and
sponge rather than using a hose because water hose will uses a lot of water.

One of the ways to save water is to use recycle rainwater. Collecting rainwater
and using it for the uses of washing clothes and toilet flushing is a better idea to save
water from the tap. However, the consumption of electrical energy for a rainwater filter
to operate will increase the electricity bill in a house that has a rainwater filter that is
generated by this type of energy. A rainwater filter that use gravitational potential
energy as it source of energy to operate the system will definitely be the solution to this
problem. A rainwater filter frequently clogged with trashes that enter the system. This
will cause the filter to break down and reduce the effectiveness of the system to collect
rainwater. For this problem to be solved, the design of the rainwater filter must have a
self-cleaning feature so that the system can function well without a lot of rainwater
wasted throughout the filter.

1.3 Scope of Project

In this project, we will use the internet, journal and thesis as our references to find
information for making this project research. There are lots of information and past
research that we can find from the sources of information involving this topic of
rainwater filter. We will be focusing on three designs based on the problems that we
found out after collecting the information on the internet. The weaknesses and strengths
of the three designs will be analysed and the best design will be selected. In this project,
we will only be focusing on the design analysis for the suitability of using potential
energy in the system instead of making mathematical analysis.

2. DISCUSSION
2.2 Tasks To Be Completed
To complete our project, we need to accomplish the following tasks:

2.2.1 Conducting a survey

We will conduct survey on the knowledge of rainwater filter products for about
30 respondents to answer the questions provided in the questionnaire.

2.2.2 Writing The Report

We will continue to complete the Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 from Week 12 to Week
14. For Chapter 3, we will be reporting the results of a study that we have done later
and for Chapter 4, we will summarize the report and list some recommendations based
on the result we have discussed.

2.2.3 Gantt Chart

3. CONCLUSION
3.2 Evaluation
We have completed Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 in Week 9. We expect that we will
be able to complete collecting and analysing the primary data by Week 12 and writing
all the sections of the report by Week 13. This will be followed by an editing and
revision of the report prior to the submission of the final report and the delivery of an
oral presentation. The commitment and the cooperation given by members of this group
is very satisfying.

3.3 Recommendations
The data survey must be completed by week 13 so that the analysis and the
evaluation of the data collected can be written earlier in the project report.