Ways to get water: rainwater utilization or long-distance water supply? A holistic assessment

On the basis of a case study the costs of an existing long-distance drinking water supply system are compared to the potentiel costs of decentralized rainwater collection und usage systems. The costs of stormwater retention are included in the calculations in so far as rainwater utilization systems provide a retention capacity for stormwater in the cisterns. The results show, that in dependence of the market price of the rainwater usage systems, the decentral way to provide usage water to the households can be more cost effective compared to a central long-distance supply system.