scholarly journals A Case Study on Reliability, Water Demand and Economic Analysis of Rainwater Harvesting in Australian Capital Cities

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 2606
Author(s):  
Preeti Preeti ◽  
Ataur Rahman

This paper presents reliability, water demand and economic analysis of rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems for eight Australian capital cities (Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney). A Python-based tool is developed based on a daily water balance modelling approach, which uses input data such as daily rainfall, roof area, overflow losses, daily water demand and first flush. Ten different tank volumes are considered (1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50, 75 and 100 m3). It is found that for a large roof area and tank size, the reliability of RWH systems for toilet and laundry use is high, in the range of 80–100%. However, the reliability for irrigation use is highly variable across all the locations. For combined use, Adelaide shows the smallest reliability (38–49%), while Hobart demonstrates the highest reliability (61–77%). Furthermore, economic analysis demonstrates that in a few cases, benefit–cost ratio values greater than one can be achieved for the RWH systems. The findings of this study will help the Australian Federal Government to enhance RWH policy, programs and subsidy levels considering climate-sensitive inputs in the respective cities.

Author(s):  
U. E. Umoffia ◽  
U. K. Iroegbute ◽  
T. M. Barnabas ◽  
J. A. Nandi ◽  
J. N. Akeweta

Aims: This paper evaluates the economic analysis of Irish Potato (Solanum tuberosum) marketing in the metropolitan markets of Bauchi State. Study Design: A sample random sampling technique was used in selecting eighty (80) respondents (30 wholesalers and 50 retailers). Place and Duration of Study: The study was done at Bauchi State, Nigeria. Methodology: Questionnaire was used to collect data on the socio-economic characteristics of the marketers and other information on cost/return from the respondents. It was however complemented with oral interviews. Results: The results shows that the enterprise is a profitable venture in the metropolitan markets of Bauchi with a Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) of (1.84) Yelwa Tudu market compared to other markets, while acquisition cost constitutes the highest proportion of the total cost of marketing potato. The majority of the marketers were female (57.75%) with 70% of the total respondents falling within the age bracket of 30-50 years. Majority of the marketers had a marketing experience of 1-10 years (58.73%). Also 70% of the marketers were married and 57% started their business with personal savings. Conclusion: The present study identified different challenges in Irish potatoes production and marketing in Bauchi State, Nigeria.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 555-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Londra ◽  
A. T. Theocharis ◽  
E. Baltas ◽  
V. A. Tsihrintzis

Abstract Rainwater harvesting is an ancient practice aiming to cover water needs for domestic, irrigation and livestock uses. In this study, the rainwater harvesting tank size was investigated to meet five water-need levels of a mixed goat–sheep farm using a daily water balance method. This method was applied using daily rainfall data for a period of 16 years from six meteorological stations in selected regions of Greece, characterized by different rainfall regimes and well-developed livestock activity, taking into account, among other parameters, the water needs of animals, the rainwater collection area and the runoff coefficient. There is a great variation in the rainwater harvesting tank size among the stations studied due to differences in the annual rainfall and the maximum dry period. Results showed that meeting full demands (100% reliability) requires tank sizes ranging from 20 m3 for short dry period stations–low demand scenario (320 L/day) to 115 m3 for long dry period stations–high demand scenario (576 L/day), assuming a maximum collection area of 450 m2. Correspondingly, reliability analysis showed that very high values of reliability (95%) can be obtained with tank sizes ranging from 10 to 85 m3, respectively.


2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadman Islam ◽  
Mark Lefsrud ◽  
Jan Adamowski ◽  
Blake Bissonnette ◽  
Allison Busgang

Increasing stress on urban water demand has led to the exploration of the potential of rainwater use and water recycling to promote sustainable water resources management. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) not only has the potential to reduce water demand but also contributes to other sustainable objectives, including reducing stormwater pollutant loads, reducing erosion, and inducing natural flow regimes by means of flood control, in urban streams. This research involved the design, construction, and field-testing of an RWH system used to irrigate greenhouses at the Macdonald Campus of McGill University in Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the RWH system was to collect rainwater from a roof area of ≈610 m2 (the Horticulture Services Building on the Macdonald Campus of McGill University) to meet the irrigation demands of the two Horticulture Research Center greenhouses on the campus (≈149 m2 each) from May to October. Over its two years of operation, it was found that the amount of rainwater collected did not only meet the peak irrigation demands of the greenhouses (which amounted to almost 700 gal of water per day), but that there was also enough water for the irrigation of the nearby student-run gardens. The harvested rainwater was clear and did not cause any harm to the plants. The major problem that was experienced during the operation of the RWH system was that of algae growth in one of the water collection tanks. This issue was resolved by covering the tank with metallic green wallpaper, thereby blocking most of the sunlight from entering the tank. The RWH system is currently being used for irrigation and as a demonstration project to promote the learning of sustainable technologies on campus and in the surrounding communities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 408-415
Author(s):  
Ranju Acharya ◽  
Ujjwal Tiwari

The majority of the population (66%) in-country “Nepal” are engaged in agriculture. However, domestic production finds it difficult to meet the annual demand of the people. Hence, people are moving from subsistence agriculture to embrace mushroom farming. This study focuses on economic analysis and analysis of the present status of mushroom farming and enterprise in this country. The study was conducted in the land area of Kalika Municipality and Bharatpur Metropolitan City. 30 mushroom farmers with two huts and at least three years of experience were selected from the study area. The primary data were collected through face-to-face interviews with the farmers, focus group discussion (FGD) and key informant interviews (KII). The secondary data was collected through various published articles and documents. The data analysis was done using basic statistics and a regression function. The benefit-cost ratio is 2.54 and a high gross margin is NRs.490,876.65 per kattha per year. The return to scale (RTS) is 0.80. Five marketing channels are present among which wholesalers and local collectors contributed the highest percentage of the share. However, the dominance of the intermediaries, timely unavailability of inputs, price fluctuation, disease and pest infestation were the major constraints. Disease and pest control, formation of the producer organization, improvised cultivation practices, timely and affordable availability of quality can be the major solution measures. Whereas, suitable climatic conditions, high productivity and growing market demand are the strengths of mushroom production in this study area. Mushroom farming is found to be a profitable business concerning competitive and comparative markets. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 625-637
Author(s):  
Muhammad Umair Aslam ◽  
Nasir Nadeem ◽  
Irfan Ahmed Baig ◽  
Umer Ijaz Ahmed

Fish consumption is very less in Pakistan as compared to the world. The study was designed to conduct the economic analysis of the fish farming. Two districts were selected with the highest number of fish farms, i.e. Muzaffargarh and Khanewal. A total of 50 fish farms from both study areas were selected randomly for the study. Economic analysis was carried out from the collected data to estimate the profitability of fish farming. In order to make a comparison of profitability of fish farming with crop cultivation on per acre basis, data from 50 farmers from crop sector were also collected. The results revealed that fish farming was more profitable as compared to crop farming in the study area. Net income per acre was estimated at Rs. 252426 from fish farming as compared to net income per acre of Rs. 58612 from wheat-cotton, Rs. 72662 from cotton-rice and Rs. 53290 from sugarcane cultivation. The benefit cost ratio (BCR) of fish farming was calculated 1:1.52 and 1: 1.74 with and without land rent respectively. It illustrates that the enterprise yields 1.52 rupees and 1.74 rupees for every rupee invested. On the basis of results, it is suggested that fish farming should be promoted, especially in the areas of saline soils to enhance food security and uplifting the socioeconomic conditions of small farmers.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Grandet ◽  
P. J. Binning ◽  
P. S. Mikkelsen ◽  
F. Blanchet

The potential effect of widespread rainwater harvesting practices on mains water demand and quality management are investigated for three different types of urban areas characterized by different roof area to water demand ratios. Two rainfall patterns are considered with similar average annual depths but very different temporal distributions. Supply reliability and the extent of reliance on the public distribution system are identified as suitable performance indicators for mains water infrastructure. A uniform temporal distribution of rainfall in an oceanic climate like that of Dinard, Northern France, yielded supply reliabilities close to 100% for reasonable tank sizes (0.065 m3/m2 of roof area in Dinard compared with 0.262 m3/m2 in Nice with a RWSO of 30% for a detached house). However, the collection and use of rainfall results in a permanent decrease in mains water demand leading to an increase in water age in the distribution network. Investigations carried on a real network showed that water age is greatly affected when rainwater supplies more than 30% of the overall water demand. In urban water utilities planning, rainwater supply systems may however be profitable for the community if they enable the deferment of requirements for new mains water infrastructure.


1981 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren A. Flick ◽  
Donald A. Horton

Abstract An economic analysis of the first 6 years of Virginia's Reforestation of Timberlands Program shows the program to be efficient. A benefit-cost ratio of about 3.5 is expected. Rural areas of eastern Virginia will benefit most. The sensitivity of the results to major assumptions is discussed. Landowners, forest industries, and rural laborers are major beneficiaries.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Ali Fulazzaky ◽  
Achmad Syafiuddin ◽  
Martin Roestamy ◽  
Zulkifli Yusop ◽  
Jonbi Jonbi ◽  
...  

Abstract The problem of water shortages faced by many countries including the country that having sufficient water source needs to be provided a practical engineering solution. The reliability analysis of rainwater harvesting system (RWHS) installed at the commercial building of AEON Taman Universiti located in Johor Barhu city of Malaysia was based on the rainfall pattern, rainwater use and rainwater storage tank. The economic analysis using the net present value (NPV), return on investment (ROI) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) was performed to assess the optimal management of RWHS installed during the period of construction and retrofitted after the operation of commercial building. The results showed that the balance of water supply and demand is reliable to implement the RWHS and the optimal management of 1000-m3 RWHS tank installed during the construction could be more promising than that retrofitted after the operation of AEON Taman Universiti commercial building. The operation of RWHS installed during the construction of building is obviously more feasible due to the values of NPV, ROI and BCR tend to be high. The reliability and economic analysis of RWHS installed during construction and that retrofitted after operation of commercial building demonstrated the benefit of RWHS installation will contribute to the future of building design for achieving an effective water management.


Author(s):  
Chen Shiguang ◽  
Zhang Yu

Abstract Rainwater is one of the most promising alternative water sources. However, the financial outcomes of the rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems are not always assured as economic performance of RWH systems vary greatly under different climatic conditions.This paper investigates reliability, water saving and benefit-cost ratio of an RWH system with different storage tanks and under three distinct climatic conditions (i.e., wet, average and dry year) at four cities in China. It was found that for a standard building (1,600 m2 roof having 560 people), the rainwater supply reliability varies significantly (3.85–20.55%) across four cities. It was found that Guangzhou (South China) always achieves the highest reliability, greatest annual water saving and highest benefit-cost ratio under three distinct climate conditions. By contrast, Beijing (North China) is mostly ranked as having the lowest one. These findings are well in line with the historical annual precipitation in these regions. Also, it was found that across these four regions, it was not possible for a RWH system to achieve a benefit-cost ratio higher than 1.0. These findings indicate that the RWH systems in most regions of China are currently economically unfeasible without government subsidies.


Author(s):  
J. O. Okovido ◽  
U. Owen-Egharevba ◽  
L. O. Akhigbe

Water scarcity is still a major problem in many rural communities in Nigeria. In this study, a rain water harvesting system was designed for Ogbekpen, a rural community in Edo state, Nigeria. A conceptual model for rainwater harvesting was developed using the storm water management model (SWMM), Arcmap 10.1 software and daily rainfall data (2000-2016) obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET). Runoff, rainfall intensity and change in elevation of three designated catchment zones were taken into consideration. The results revealed that the total amount of rainwater that could be harvested annually (water supply) was 14,314,351.70 L (14,314 m3) from an overall effective rooftop area of 6025.9 m2. This was three times the annual water demand (4,317,965.60 L (4318 m3)), thus demonstrating the capability of the system to meet annual water demand. The required tank capacities for zones 1, 2 and 3 were 870,412.76 L (870 m3), 955,319.4 5L (955 m3) and 788,629.88 L (789 m3) respectively. Comparative physicochemical and microbial analysis of water from rooftops in the three zones and an existing storage well showed that the latter did not comply with drinking water quality guidelines, thus highlighting the importance of a proper conveyance and storage system to improve water quality and availability in the area.


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