Contributions to the design of rainwater harvesting systems in buildings with green roofs in a Mediterranean climate

2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (8) ◽  
pp. 1842-1847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina M. Monteiro ◽  
Cristina S. C. Calheiros ◽  
Carla Pimentel-Rodrigues ◽  
Armando Silva-Afonso ◽  
Paula M. L. Castro
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Mediterranean Climate ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Atmospheric Pollutants ◽  
Water Runoff ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
Harvesting Systems ◽  
Monthly Runoff

Green roofs (GRs) are becoming a trend in urban areas, favouring thermal performance of buildings, promoting removal of atmospheric pollutants, and acting as possible water collection spots. Rainwater harvesting systems in buildings can also contribute to the management of stormwater runoff reducing flood peaks. These technologies should be enhanced in Mediterranean countries where water scarcity is increasing and the occurrence of extreme events is becoming very significant, as a result of climate change. An extensive pilot GR with three aromatic plant species, Satureja montana, Thymus caespititius and Thymus pseudolanuginosus, designed to study several parameters affecting rainwater runoff, has been in operation for 12 months. Physico-chemical analyses of roof water runoff (turbidity, pH, conductivity, NH4+, NO3−, PO43−, chemical oxygen demand) have shown that water was of sufficient quality for non-potable uses in buildings, such as toilet flushing. An innovative approach allowed for the development of an expression to predict a ‘monthly runoff coefficient’ of the GR system. This parameter is essential when planning and designing GRs combined with rainwater harvesting systems in a Mediterranean climate. This study is a contribution to improving the basis for the design of rainwater harvesting systems in buildings with extensive GRs under a Mediterranean climate.

scholarly journals Growing substrates for aromatic plant species in green roofs and water runoff quality: pilot experiments in a Mediterranean climate

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 1081-1089 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina M. Monteiro ◽  
Cristina S. C. Calheiros ◽  
Paulo Palha ◽  
Paula M. L. Castro
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Mediterranean Climate ◽  
Green Roof ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Water Runoff ◽  
Aromatic Plant ◽  
Runoff Quality

Green roof technology has evolved in recent years as a potential solution to promote vegetation in urban areas. Green roof studies for Mediterranean climates, where extended drought periods in summer contrast with cold and rainy periods in winter, are still scarce. The present research study assesses the use of substrates with different compositions for the growth of six aromatic plant species – Lavandula dentata, Pelargonium odoratissimum, Helichrysum italicum, Satureja montana, Thymus caespititius and T. pseudolanuginosus, during a 2-year period, and the monitoring of water runoff quality. Growing substrates encompassed expanded clay and granulated cork, in combination with organic matter and crushed eggshell. These combinations were adequate for the establishment of all aromatic plants, allowing their propagation in the extensive system located on the 5th storey. The substrate composed of 70% expanded clay and 30% organic matter was the most suitable, and crushed eggshell incorporation improved the initial plant establishment. Water runoff quality parameters – turbidity, pH, conductivity, NH4+, NO3−, PO43- and chemical oxygen demand – showed that it could be reused for non-potable uses in buildings. The present study shows that selected aromatic plant species could be successfully used in green roofs in a Mediterranean climate.

scholarly journals Contributions of Water-Related Building Installations to Urban Strategies for Mitigation and Adaptation to Face Climate Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 3575
Author(s):  
Pimentel-Rodrigues ◽  
Silva-Afonso
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Harvesting Systems ◽  
Monthly Runoff ◽  
Engineering Projects ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change ◽  
Key Parameter

In addition to the possible contributions of buildings to mitigating CO2 emissions, increased attention is being paid to the potential impacts of climate change on urban environments. According to the United Nations, about 54% of the planet’s population currently lives in cities, but this percentage is expected to rise to 66% in 2050, which reveals the scale of this issue. This paper develops a reflection on the possible contributions of water-related building installations to mitigate emissions and increase urban area adaptation to the effects of climate change. One of the most promising solutions to facing climate change, which is analysed in detail in this paper, is combining rainwater harvesting systems with green roofs. However, in view of developing the necessary engineering projects, there are insufficient existing studies to estimate the parameters to be used in each location given their climate characteristics, particularly the monthly runoff coefficients, which constitute the key parameter for designing these installations in some regions. Some recent standards present generic theoretical values for designing these combined installations, but they are far from reality in some regions, such as the Mediterranean basin. Therefore, based on the data available in Portugal, this paper reports some of the results obtained from research on the values of the monthly runoff coefficients.

The Potential of Recycled Locally-Sourced Waste Materials for Green Roof Soil Mixtures

2017 ◽  
Vol 730 ◽  
pp. 445-451
Author(s):  
Hartini Kasmin ◽  
Siti Nur Ummiah Munir ◽  
Nur Syafira Razak ◽  
Nor Azizi Yusoff ◽  
Rosniza Kassim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Green Roof ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Waste Materials ◽  
Peat Moss ◽  
Water Runoff ◽  
Maximum Water ◽  
Soil Mixtures

The increase in surface runoff has become a serious environmental problem and concern in Malaysia. Hence, promoting the use of green roofs in urban areas will potentially allow some storage area and time attenuation for any rainfall. Initial studies on a few substrate mixtures were done in order to find out the properties of green roof media. These included vermiculite (V), perlite (P) and peat moss (PM) together with locally-sourced waste materials such as empty fruit bunches (EFB) and wet diaper gel (D) which are expected to potentially retain more storm water runoff. A test on the substrate mixture properties and evaporation tests were conducted on seven types of soil mixtures. The results show that a basic substrate mixture of PVPM3,5,2 has a maximum water capacity of 50%. The modification and addition of diaper gel in DVPM1,3,2 and empty fruit bunch (EFB) in PEFBPM1,0.3,2 show an increment in both mixtures’ water holding capacity (54%). All the proposed mixtures have shown permeability values larger than 0.0005 cm/s. To investigate the maximum water storage availability, the evaporation tests show that both mixtures could provide 60 - 62 mm of water storage after 34 days without rainfall under ambient climatic condition (32 ̊ to 34 ̊) whereas under extreme heat temperatures (50 ̊), both mixtures took only 1 day to provide the same storage as the ambient condition. Therefore, this study has provided an initial understanding of the properties of the substrate mixture as well as the evaporation rate of the materials tested. This information can be used to demonstrate the relationship between soil characteristics and local climatic factors (temperature).

Designing domestic rainwater harvesting systems under different climatic regimes in Italy

2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (11) ◽  
pp. 2511-2518 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Campisano ◽  
I. Gnecco ◽  
C. Modica ◽  
A. Palla
Keyword(s):  
Potable Water ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Water Runoff ◽  
Operational Conditions ◽  
Climatic Regions ◽  
Regression Curves ◽  
Storm Water Runoff ◽  
Harvesting Systems ◽  
Dimensional Parameters ◽  
Climatic Classification

Nowadays domestic rainwater harvesting practices are recognized as effective tools to improve the sustainability of drainage systems within the urban environment, by contributing to limiting the demand for potable water and, at the same time, by mitigating the generation of storm water runoff at the source. The final objective of this paper is to define regression curves to size domestic rainwater harvesting (DRWH) systems in the main Italian climatic regions. For this purpose, the Köppen–Geiger climatic classification is used and, furthermore, suitable precipitation sites are selected for each climatic region. A behavioural model is implemented to assess inflow, outflow and change in storage volume of a rainwater harvesting system according to daily mass balance simulations based on historical rainfall observations. The performance of the DRWH system under various climate and operational conditions is examined as a function of two non-dimensional parameters, namely the demand fraction (d) and the modified storage fraction (sm). This last parameter allowed the evaluation of the effects of the rainfall intra-annual variability on the system performance.

Mapping of rainwater harvesting potential derived from building data-based hydrological models through the case study of Szeged, Hungary

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ákos Kristóf Csete ◽  
Ágnes Gulyás
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Local Planning ◽  
Harvesting Systems ◽  
Decision Making Processes

<p>Urban water cycle suffers from ever increasing problems for what a modern city needs to prepare. The water cycle of most cities is not implemented in a sustainable way, which needs to be redesigned as a result of climate change. Through the climate change more extreme weather situations are expected to affect the life of cities. From aspect of the water cycle, this means extremely unequally distributed rainwater supply throughout the year. During drought periods, urban vegetation requires irrigation, often covered by cities with drinking water, a practice widely considered to be unsustainable. Therefore, finding appropriate methods and resources is crucial, in order to reduce the exposure of cities to the increasing climate extremes.</p><p>By collecting large amounts of rainwater and using it as irrigation water during droughts, it is possible to avoid the unnecessary waste of drinking water and to help preserve its limited supply in the future. A significant amount of precipitation flows through the surface of urban micro-catchments (e.g. roofs or other building surfaces), a significant part of which leaves the city through the sewer system without any usage.</p><p>The aim of our research is to create a rainwater harvesting potential map based on a building database in the study area of Szeged, Hungary. We used this building database to estimate the amount of rainwater that flows or evaporates on the top of buildings during a year, as well as the amount that can be considered as potentially collectable water. In addition to the GIS data, a complex meteorological database was also used.</p><p>The study was carried out in the EPA SWMM model. The building database contains nearly 20,000 building polygons, of which nearly every single polygon represents a separate catchment for this research. Based on the database, it is also possible to separate slope/pitched roof and flat roofs, which also allowed us to determine which roofs have the potential to be used as a green roofs to further facilitate efficient rainwater harvesting. Our result can be used to produce both city- and district-level (downtown, housing estate, garden house zones) summaries about the rainwater harvesting possibilities within Szeged. These results can be used to delineate areas where harvesting systems can be realistically installed. In addition to the spatial data, we can also acquire information on the seasonal distribution of the precipitation and thus the amount of collected water which can be used in drought periods.</p><p>Through our results we can get estimate the volume of rainwater that can be potentially collected from the surfaces of the building in Szeged. We believe, that our research may encourage urban planners to make into greater account the potential of rainwater storage in the local planning processes. This can greatly contribute to the decision-making processes at the local levels, and to the expansion of the knowledge related to green space-based integrated urban infrastructure management.</p>

scholarly journals A Review of Roof and Pond Rainwater Harvesting Systems for Water Security: The Design, Performance and Way Forward

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 3163
Author(s):  
Husnna Aishah Zabidi ◽  
Hui Weng Goh ◽  
Chun Kiat Chang ◽  
Ngai Weng Chan ◽  
Nor Azazi Zakaria
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Harvesting Systems ◽  
Alternative Water ◽  
The Many ◽  
Equatorial Climate

Rapid urbanization, population explosion and climate change have threatened water security globally, regionally and locally. While there are many ways of addressing these problems, one of the innovative techniques is the recent employment of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) which include rainwater harvesting systems (RWHS). Therefore, this paper reviews the design and component of two types of RWHS, the namely roof harvesting system (RHS) and the pond harvesting system (PHS). The performance in terms of quantity and quality of collected rainwater and energy consumption for RWHS with different capacities were evaluated, as well as the benefits and challenges particularly in environmental, economic and social aspects. Presently, the RHS is more commonly applied but its effectiveness is limited by its small scale. The PHS is of larger scale and has greater potentials and effectiveness as an alternative water supply system. Results also indicate the many advantages of the PHS especially in terms of economics, environmental aspects and volume of water harvested. While the RHS may be suited to individual or existing buildings, the PHS has greater potentials and should be applied in newly developed urban areas with wet equatorial climate.

scholarly journals Assessment of Rainwater Harvesting Potential from Roof Catchments through Clustering Analysis

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2623
Author(s):  
Rubén Villar-Navascués ◽  
Alfredo Pérez-Morales ◽  
Salvador Gil-Guirado
Keyword(s):  
Hot Spots ◽  
Clustering Analysis ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Supervised Classification ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Spatial Clustering ◽  
Runoff Coefficient ◽  
Harvesting Systems ◽  
Cold Spots ◽  
Per Capita

Rainwater harvesting from rooftop catchments represents a climate change adaptation measure that is especially significant in areas affected by water scarcity. This article develops a Geographic Information Systems-based methodology to evaluate the spatial distribution of rainwater catchment potential to identify the most favorable urban areas for the installation of these infrastructures. Since performance and water saving potential of rainwater harvesting systems greatly depends on population density and roof size, this assessment was performed for each residential plot on a per capita basis, based on cadastral data and a method of demographic disaggregation. Furthermore, to evaluate spatial variation of runoff coefficient per building, a supervised classification was carried out to consider the influence of roof types on the rainwater catchment potential. After calculating rainwater catchment potential per capita for each residential plot, the spatial clustering of high (hot spots) and low values (cold spots) was assessed through the Getis-Ord General G statistic. Results indicate a spatial pattern of high rainwater catchment potential values in low-density urban areas, where rainwater catchment systems are expected to offer a better performance and a shorter amortization period. These results may be useful for the enactment of local legislation that regulates the obligation to install these infrastructures or offers subsidies for their implementation.

scholarly journals A water balance approach to assess rainwater availability potential in urban areas: the case of Beijing, China

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 490-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Liu ◽  
Weiping Chen ◽  
Chi Peng ◽  
Laosheng Wu ◽  
Yuguo Qian
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Water Mass ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Water Source ◽  
Water Shortage ◽  
Minute Interval ◽  
Harvesting Systems ◽  
Management Policies ◽  
Water Mass Balance ◽  
Beijing China

Rainwater is an underutilized water resource that has become more important in recent years; due to severe water logging and water shortage in cities. The evaluation of rainwater harvesting potential is of fundamental importance in planning rainwater harvesting systems and management policies. In this study, we used minute-interval rainfall data and the water mass balance method coupling urban hydrological processes to assess the annual rainwater availability potential (RAP) of different underlying surfaces in the urban areas of Beijing (inside the 5th Ring Road). The estimated total RAP was 154.49 million m3 in 2013. About 53% of rainwater could be effectively harvested for use, among which the rooftops had the highest harvesting ratio of 70%, and contributed about half of the total RAP. Indirect use of rainwater can be achieved through infiltration facilities, of which concave green land construction and porous brick pavement can increase the amount of rainfall that infiltrates into the soil by 18.89% and 55.69%, respectively. Rainwater harvesting and utilization could serve as a significant water source for the urban areas in Beijing.

Research on the characteristics of the water quality of rainwater runoff from green roofs

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (7) ◽  
pp. 1205-1210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kena Gong ◽  
Qing Wu ◽  
Sen Peng ◽  
Xinhua Zhao ◽  
Xiaochen Wang
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Water Runoff ◽  
Runoff Water ◽  
Retention Capacity ◽  
Storm Water Runoff ◽  
Quality Retention ◽  
Rainwater Runoff

This paper investigates the water quality characteristics of rainwater runoff from dual-substrate-layer green roofs in Tianjin, China. The data were collected from four different assemblies and three types of simulated rains. The storm-water runoff quality was monitored from early June through late October 2012 and from July through late November 2013. The results revealed that the runoff water quality would be improved to some extent with the ageing of green roofs and that the quality retention rate better reflected the pollutant retention capacity of the green roof than the pollutant concentration in the runoff water. The investigation clearly demonstrated that green roofs also effectively reduced the chemical oxygen demand and turbidity value and neutralised acid rain to stabilise the pH of the runoff.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document