| Summary: | Much research on the rain harvesting has been undertaken by experts such as architects and engineers. The emphases are on the required materials, installation of appropriate equipments, techniques of capturing rain water and other issues that lead to the environmental studies. Computers are only for certain calculations or simulations using common software packages. The lack of comprehensive use on computerized system to assist the rain harvesting research and implementation has lead to this study. We propose a model for knowledge management methods in developing a comprehensive prototype software application, called RAINS that simulates appropriate knowledge on rain harvesting and acts as an intelligent decision tool. It begins with knowledge acquisition, followed by knowledge manipulation and processing, and ends with knowledge delivery. The major strength of this model is on the idea of composing and blending different types of expert's knowledge in a form of cyclic and multi-tiers structure. This model is not only for rain harvesting system development, but also applicable in other knowledge acquisition domains and cases. © 2008 IEEE.
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