Spatially optimized distribution of household rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling systems

The City and County of San Francisco (“City”) embarked upon a 30-year master planning process in part prompted by public concerns related to the neighbourhood impacts of the Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant (SEP). The Sewer System Master Plan, as it is called, developed a long term Integrated Urban Watershed Management Plan for the City's treatment plants and collection system. This paper focuses on the planning framework and public input to the process, particularly as it relates to proposed changes to the SEP. The resulting improvements address issues of replacing aging infrastructure, eliminating odor emissions, and visually screening the treatment plants that are situated within an urban setting. The recommended project addresses the needed repair of the existing infrastructure; and proposes that the City move towards an integrated urban watershed approach, initially through localized rainwater harvesting and opportunistic water reclamation.

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Corrigendum: Water Science and Technology: Water Supply 16 (1), 97–103: Importance of maintenance in rainwater harvesting systems: a case study, Ju Young Lee et al., doi: 10.2166/ws.2015.115

Water Science & Technology Water Supply ◽

10.2166/ws.2016.038 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 864-864

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

Science And Technology ◽

Harvesting Systems ◽

Water Science

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Industrial Ecology of the Paper Industry

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1999.0690 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 40 (11-12) ◽

pp. 21-24

Author(s):

Tapio Pento

Keyword(s):

Systems Engineering ◽

Industrial Ecology ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Paper Industry ◽

Waste Recycling ◽

Optimal Recovery ◽

Natural Systems ◽

Earth Systems ◽

Controversial Area ◽

Recycling Systems

Industrial ecology (IE) is a biological concept applied to industrial structures. The basic concepts of IE include regional, intra-firm and product-based waste recycling systems as well as the principle of upward and downward cascading. In best current examples of regional systems, several parties are in an industrial waste re-use symbiosis. Paper industry has learned to arrange the recovery and re-use of its products on distant markets, even up to a level where indications of exceeding optimal recovery and re-use rates already exist through deteriorated fibre and product quality. Such occurrences will take place in certain legislative-economic situations. Paper industry has many cascade levels, each with their internal recovery and recycling, as well as many intra-firm, regional, and life cycle ecology structures. As an example of prospects for individual cascading routes, sludges may continue to be incinerated, but the route to landfills will be closed. The main obstacles of legislative drive toward better IE systems are in many cases existing laws and political considerations rather than economic or technical aspects. The study and practice of engineering human technology systems and related elements of natural systems should develop in such a way that they provide quality of life by actively managing the dynamics of relevant systems to reduce the risk and scale of undesirable behavior and outcomes. For the paper industry, earth systems engineering offers several development routes. One of them is the further recognition of and research on the fact that the products of the industry are returned back to the carbon cycle of the natural environment. Opportunities for modifying current earth systems may also be available for the industry, e.g. genetically modified plants for raw materials or organisms for making good quality pulp out of current raw materials. It is to be recognized that earth systems engineering may become a very controversial area, and that very diverse political pressures may determine its future usefulness to the paper industry.

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Is the Microfiltration Process Suitable as a Method of Removing Suspended Solids from Rainwater?

Resources ◽

10.3390/resources10030021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 21

Author(s):

Karolina Fitobór ◽

Bernard Quant

Keyword(s):

Suspended Solids ◽

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

Anthropogenic Pressure ◽

Granulometric Analysis ◽

Suspended Substances ◽

Rainwater Runoff ◽

Rainwater Management ◽

Alternative Sources ◽

Average Size ◽

Silt Density Index

Due to climate change and anthropogenic pressure, freshwater availability is declining in areas where it has not been noticeable so far. As a result, the demands for alternative sources of safe drinking water and effective methods of purification are growing. A solution worth considering is the treatment of rainwater by microfiltration. This study presents the results of selected analyses of rainwater runoff, collected from the roof surface of individual households equipped with the rainwater harvesting system. The method of rainwater management and research location (rural area) influenced the low content of suspended substances (TSS < 0.02 mg/L) and turbidity (<4 NTU). Microfiltration allowed for the further removal of suspension particles with sizes larger than 0.45 μm and with efficiency greater than 60%. Granulometric analysis indicated that physical properties of suspended particles vary with the season and weather. During spring, particles with an average size of 500 μm predominated, while in autumn particles were much smaller (10 μm). However, Silt Density Index measurements confirmed that even a small amount of suspended solids can contribute to the fouling of membranes (SDI > 5). Therefore, rainwater cannot be purified by microfiltration without an appropriate pretreatment.

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Feasibility of roof top rainwater harvesting potential - A case study of South Indian University

Cleaner Engineering and Technology ◽

10.1016/j.clet.2021.100206 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 100206

Author(s):

Sanjith S. Anchan ◽

H.C. Shiva Prasad

Keyword(s):

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

South Indian

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Revealing the Challenges of Smart Rainwater Harvesting for Integrated and Digital Resilience of Urban Water Infrastructure

Water ◽

10.3390/w13141902 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 1902

Author(s):

Martin Oberascher ◽

Aun Dastgir ◽

Jiada Li ◽

Sina Hesarkazzazi ◽

Mohsen Hajibabaei ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

Data Communication ◽

Integrated System ◽

Coupled Systems ◽

Urban Resilience ◽

System Failures ◽

Household Level ◽

Performance Improvements ◽

Smart Water

Smart rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems can automatically release stormwater prior to rainfall events to increase detention capacity on a household level. However, impacts and benefits of a widespread implementation of these systems are often unknown. This works aims to investigate the effect of a large-scale implementation of smart RWH systems on urban resilience by hypothetically retrofitting an Alpine municipality with smart rain barrels. Smart RWH systems represent dynamic systems, and therefore, the interaction between the coupled systems RWH units, an urban drainage network (UDN) and digital infrastructure is critical for evaluating resilience against system failures. In particular, digital parameters (e.g., accuracy of weather forecasts, or reliability of data communication) can differ from an ideal performance. Therefore, different digital parameters are varied to determine the range of uncertainties associated with smart RWH systems. As the results demonstrate, smart RWH systems can further increase integrated system resilience but require a coordinated integration into the overall system. Additionally, sufficient consideration of digital uncertainties is of great importance for smart water systems, as uncertainties can reduce/eliminate gained performance improvements. Moreover, a long-term simulation should be applied to investigate resilience with digital applications to reduce dependence on boundary conditions and rainfall patterns.

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