Distributed Rainwater Harvesting: Novel Approach to Rainwater Harvesting Systems for Single-Family Households

Rainwater harvesting is an alternative water supply method that has become popular in recent years around the world. This is mainly due to financial reasons (reducing the cost of potable water and fees for rainwater discharge to the sewerage), but also because of environmental awareness. In Poland, rainwater harvesting systems are not often used because of their low financial viability determined by high system construction costs and the low prices of potable water. Earlier analysis conducted by the author showed that the payback period of investment outlays was from a dozen or so years for large buildings, to a few dozen for single-family houses. This situation may change after the introduction of common fees for discharging rainwater from impervious areas into sewerage, and fees for the reduction of natural retention on newly built-up areas, in accordance with new water regulations. This paper presents a cost analysis of rainwater harvesting systems for ten cities in Poland, with varying annual rainfall depth and various pricing for potable water. Analyses were carried out for a single-family house located in an area equipped with a municipal sewer system, and for a large building, located in an area equipped and not equipped with a municipal sewer system.

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Reduction of Potable Water Consumption and Sewage Generation on a City Scale: A Case Study in Brazil

Water ◽

10.3390/w11112351 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 2351 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Cureau ◽

Ghisi

Keyword(s):

Water Consumption ◽

Potable Water ◽

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

Single Family ◽

Water Savings ◽

The Public ◽

Water Demands ◽

Harvesting Systems ◽

The City ◽

Greywater Reuse

This article aims to estimate the reduction of potable water consumption and sewage generation in the city of Joinville, southern Brazil. Four strategies were considered to promote potable water savings: replacement of conventional toilets with dual-flush ones, greywater reuse, rainwater harvesting, and the combination of these three strategies. Residential, public, and commercial sectors were assessed. The potential for potable water savings ranged from 1.7% to 50.5%, and the potential for sewage generation reduction ranged from 2.1% to 52.1%. The single-family residential sector was the most representative for water savings and sewage generation reduction. The public sector would be the least contributor to such reductions. It was found that in the city of Joinville, for low non-potable water demands, greywater reuse was the most viable strategy to save water. When non-potable demand is high and there is a large catchment area, it is recommended to install rainwater harvesting systems. It was concluded that there is a high potential for potable water savings and reduction of sewage generation if measures were adopted in Joinville, but it is necessary to evaluate which strategy is the most appropriate for each building.

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Effectiveness of Rainwater Harvesting Systems for Flood Reduction in Residential Urban Areas

Water ◽

10.3390/w11071389 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 1389 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Gabriele Freni ◽

Lorena Liuzzo

Keyword(s):

Water Consumption ◽

Flood Risk ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

Single Family ◽

Residential Areas ◽

Harvesting Systems ◽

Daily Water ◽

Alternative Water ◽

Area Of Study

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems have many benefits being an effective alternative water supply solution, not only in arid and semi-arid regions. Also, these systems can be useful in the reduction of flood risk in urban areas. Nevertheless, most of the studies in literature focused on the potential of RWH in reducing water consumption, whereas few examples examined their efficiency in the retention of stormwater in flood-susceptible residential areas. The aim of this work was to investigate the reliability of RWH systems in terms of stormwater retention. Specifically, the performance of RWH tanks to supply water for toilet flushing, in more than 400 single-family houses in a residential area of Sicily (Southern Italy) was analyzed. The area of study was chosen due to its high susceptibility to flooding. A flushing water demand pattern was defined using water consumption data collected during a measurement campaign. The yield-after-spillage algorithm was used to simulate the daily water balance of the RWH tanks. The effect of the RWH implementation on flood volumes in the area of study was quantified using FLO-2D. Results point out that the potential of neighborhood RWH installation in the mitigation of flood risk is highly related to rainfall amount.

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Hydrodynamic modeling of the impact of residential rainwater harvesting systems on stormwater runoff and drainage networks

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/20184500089 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 45 ◽

pp. 00089 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Agnieszka Stec

Keyword(s):

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

Hydrodynamic Modeling ◽

Single Family ◽

Drainage Networks ◽

Harvesting Systems ◽

Family Housing ◽

Rain Barrels ◽

Pressure Flows ◽

The Impact ◽

Catchment Model

This paper presents the results of hydrodynamic modeling of urbanized catchment, where rainwater harvesting systems (RWH) was applied. The catchment model was developed in the Storm Water Managment Model program and RWH was simulated as one of the LID practices available in this program - rain barrels (RB). The research was carried out for various rain barrels implementation scenarios (50% -100%) in a single-family housing estate. However, the results of the research showed that the use of rain barrels (RB) to capture rainwater discharged from the roof of buildings was not effective in significantly reducing the outflow of water from the catchment, and thus reducing the occurrence of pressure flows in the analyzed sewage system.

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Multi-criteria decision making methods for rural water supply: a case study from Bangladesh

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2015.111 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 17 (6) ◽

pp. 1209-1223 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal Sikder ◽

Mashfiqus Salehin

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Water Supply ◽

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

Multiple Criteria Decision Making ◽

Sensitivity Analyses ◽

Rural Water Supply ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Tube Wells ◽

Rural Water ◽

Harvesting Systems

Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) is a process of evaluating alternatives against relevant decision making criteria. Several methods are available to facilitate the evaluation steps. This paper deals with a rural water supply problem in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. Three different MCDM methods – weighted summation, analytical hierarchy process, and novel approach to imprecise assessment and decision environments – were used to evaluate the suitable water supply alternative. The ranking of alternatives obtained from these MCDM techniques produced similar results. Among five water supply alternatives evaluated, rainwater harvesting systems and deep tube wells scored first and second, respectively, for all three evaluation methods. In addition, sensitivity analyses were carried out for the MCDM techniques and these results did not show drastic variations either. This finding implies that while selection of MCDM technique is important, when evaluating similar problems more emphasis should be given to defining the problem comprehensively and thus selecting the relevant criteria and priorities to factor into the decision problem.

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