Enhancing Stormwater Management Benefits of Rainwater Harvesting via Innovative Technologies

Gee, Kathy DeBusk; Hunt, William F.

doi:10.1061/(asce)ee.1943-7870.0001108

Cited by 42 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, these multi-objective RWH systems employed with RTC technology can be incorporated into combined sewer systems and become a feasible supplement to the existing centralized system, with great potential to reduce or even eliminate combined sewer overflow (CSO) [21,38,60]. One empirical study demonstrated that, by deploying a real-time controlled RWH system, the downstream sewer system could cope with 50-year rainfall without upgrading the existing system designed for a 10-year event [21].…”

Section: Costmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The cost of active release rainwater harvesting systems applied at residential household scales will likely be greater than that of passive release systems, given the requirement for the valve control and communication systems [38,59]. However, these multi-objective RWH systems employed with RTC technology can be incorporated into combined sewer systems and become a feasible supplement to the existing centralized system, with great potential to reduce or even eliminate combined sewer overflow (CSO) [21,38,60].…”

Section: Costmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water in the system is only released if there is insufficient storage capacity to capture the forecast amount of precipitation. Consequently, this customization would preserve the water conservation function, and would significantly reduce or even eliminate the uncontrolled stormwater runoff that discharges into the storm drainage system creating a risk of flooding [38]. While the pre-storm release aims to reduce the risk of flooding, the baseflow release has the objective of restoring the infiltration lost at the source due to the impervious area at each allotment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A few places around the world, such as North Carolina, United States [38] and Seoul, South Korea [21], have deployed and monitored RWH systems operated by RTC technology to deliver and optimize the dual benefits of water conservation and stormwater retention. However, no studies to date have explored the potential to adapt such RTC systems to facilitate baseflow restoration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The retention storage volume is designed to supply the domestic consumption, and comprises the bottom portion of the storage, while the detention storage occupies the top portion of the system. Stormwater runoff held above the passive discharge orifice slowly drains out to contribute to in-stream baseflow [36][37][38].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Improving the Multi-Objective Performance of Rainwater Harvesting Systems Using Real-Time Control Technology

Fletcher

Duncan

et al. 2018

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Many studies have identified the potential of rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems to simultaneously augment potable water supply and reduce delivery of uncontrolled stormwater flows to downstream drainage networks. Potentially, such systems could also play a role in the controlled delivery of water to urban streams in ways which mimic baseflows. The performance of RWH systems to achieve these three objectives could be enhanced using Real-Time Control (RTC) technology to receive rainfall forecasts and initiate pre-storm release in real time, although few studies have explored such potential. We used continuous simulation to model the ability of a range of allotment-scale RWH systems to simultaneously deliver: (i) water supply; (ii) stormwater retention; and (iii) baseflow restoration. We compared the performance of RWH systems with RTC technology to conventional RWH systems and also systems designed with a passive baseflow release, rather than the active (RTC) configuration. We found that RWH systems employing RTC technology were generally superior in simultaneously achieving water supply, stormwater retention and baseflow restoration benefits compared with the other types of system tested. The active operation provided by RTC allows the system to perform optimally across a wider range of climatic conditions, but needs to be carefully designed. We conclude that the active release mechanism employing RTC technology exhibits great promise; its ability to provide centralised control and failure detection also opens the possibility of delivering a more reliable rainwater harvesting system, which can be readily adapted to varying climate over both the short and long term.

show abstract