scholarly journals Economic Analysis and Feasibility of Rainwater Harvesting Systems in Urban and Peri-Urban Environments: A Review of the Global Situation with a Special Focus on Australia and Kenya

Water ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb Christian Amos ◽  
Ataur Rahman ◽  
John Mwangi Gathenya
2019 ◽  
Vol 146 ◽  
pp. 206-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roni M. Severis ◽  
Flávia Arcari da Silva ◽  
Júlia Wahrlich ◽  
Everton Skoronski ◽  
Flávio J. Simioni

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 3575
Author(s):  
Pimentel-Rodrigues ◽  
Silva-Afonso

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.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 3496
Author(s):  
Uri Nachshon ◽  
Meni Ben-Hur ◽  
Daniel Kurtzman ◽  
Roee Katzir ◽  
Lior Netzer ◽  
...  

Bitumen waterproof sheets are widely used to seal building roofs. Previous works have focused on the mechanical-physical properties of bitumen sheets, as well as their aging and degradation processes, and their impact on sealing properties of the buildings. Due to a growing need over recent years to use rooftops in urban environments for rainwater harvesting purposes, it is highly important to better characterize the quality of the harvested water from the bitumen covered roofs, and to shed more light on the impact of bitumen degradation processes on the release of various components to the harvested roof water. In the present study, the extracted organic and inorganic solutes from bitumen-covered roofs by water flow on the bitumen sheets were examined through a series of experiments, including measurements from the roofs of buildings in the center of Israel during the winter of 2019–2020. The results indicated high levels of organic and inorganic solute loads in the roof water during the first flush of the first rain of the winter, with maximal electric conductivity readings at the order of 4 dS/m. However, it was shown that following the first flush, a ~20 mm of cumulative rainfall was sufficient to wash off all the summers’ accumulated solutes from the roof. After this solute flushing of the roof, harvested rainwater along the winter was of good quality, with electric conductivity readings in the range of 0.04–0.85 dS/m. Moreover, it was shown that bitumen sheets which were exposed to direct sun radiation emitted greater loads of solutes, likely a result of elevated aging and degradation processes. The findings of the present research point to the need to find efficient ways to isolate roof bitumen sheets from direct sun radiation and to design rainwater harvesting systems that will not collect the water drained from the first flush.


2021 ◽  
Vol 147 (10) ◽  
pp. 04021061
Author(s):  
Mary Semaan ◽  
Susan D. Day ◽  
Michael Garvin ◽  
Naren Ramakrishnan ◽  
Annie Pearce

2015 ◽  
Vol 529 ◽  
pp. 91-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luís F. Sanches Fernandes ◽  
Daniela P.S. Terêncio ◽  
Fernando A.L. Pacheco

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.


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