In many areas of the world, rainwater has been collected and consumed by people. Our research aims to assess the use of rainwater and the impact of operation and maintenance activities of the rainwater system on drinking water quality in rural areas where there is no access to a public drinking water system. Through the questionnaire, direct visits, interviews and sampling of water at surveyed households (HHs), it was found that 100 and 98% of surveyed HHs used rainwater for drinking and cooking, respectively. Nearly, 80% of them were aware of the necessity of frequent reservoir cleaning as well as first-flush removal. Cleaning the water reservoir had a significant impact on water quality, in particular the total dissolved solids (p-value < 0.05). The use of strainers and more frequency of cleaning the catchment roofs and gutters would make the lower turbidity in water. However, the use of strainers would reduce the dissolution of oxygen in the reservoirs. A recommendation on the frequency of maintaining the rainwater harvesting systems was proposed after assessment of the operation and maintenance behaviors at surveyed HHs.

在世界许多地区，人们已经收集并消耗了雨水。我们的研究旨在评估无法使用公共饮用水系统的农村地区雨水的使用以及雨水系统的运行和维护活动对饮用水水质的影响。通过调查表，直接访问，访谈和在被调查家庭（HHs）进行水采样，发现被调查的HHs中分别有100％和98％的居民使用雨水来饮用和烹饪。几乎有80％的人意识到必须经常清洗油箱以及先冲洗一次。清洁储水器对水质有重要影响，特别是总溶解固体（p值<0.05）。使用过滤器和更频繁地清洁集水区屋顶和排水沟将降低水中的浊度。但是，使用过滤器会减少氧气在储层中的溶解。在评估被调查家庭的运行和维护行为后，提出了维护雨水收集系统频率的建议。