Life Cycle Assessment of Domestic and Agricultural Rainwater Harvesting Systems

Ghimire, Santosh R.; Johnston, John M.; Ingwersen, Wesley W.; Hawkins, Troy R.

doi:10.1021/es500189f

Cited by 71 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…From the respective of technical improvements, the impact factors on rainwater harvesting systems (RWH) include optimal tank size, technical design, and so on [1][2][3][4][5]. Technical improvements could effectively facilitate the operation of a new system, but they do not determine its successful operation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Decisive Factors Determining the Continued Use of Rainwater Harvesting Systems for Agriculture Irrigation in Beijing

Liang

Dijk

2015

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The success or failure of operating a rainwater harvesting system (RWH) depends on both technological and non-technological factors. The importance of non-technological factors in attaining sustainable RWH operation is rarely emphasized. This study aims to assess the contribution of non-technological factors through determining decisive factors involved in the use of RWHs for agriculture irrigation in Beijing. The RWHs for agriculture irrigation in Beijing are not operating as well as expected. If the decisive factors are identified to be non-technological, the significance of non-technological factors will be highlighted. Firstly, 10 impact factors comprising non-technological and technological factors are selected according to both a literature review and interviews with RWH managers. Following this, through an artificial data mining method, rough set analysis, the decisive factors are identified. Results show that two non-technological factors, "doubts about rainwater quality" and "the availability of groundwater" determine whether these systems will continue or cease RWH operation in Beijing. It is, thus, considered necessary to improve public confidence in and motivation on using rainwater for agriculture irrigation, as this is the main obstacle in the sustainable and successful operation of RWHs. Through a case study of RWHs in Beijing, the study verifies the importance of acknowledging non-technological factors to achieve sustainable water management and considers that such factors should receive more attention by decision makers and researchers.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Decisive Factors Determining the Continued Use of Rainwater Harvesting Systems for Agriculture Irrigation in Beijing

Liang

Dijk

2015

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, life cycle fossil fuel use and carbon footprint of potable water produced from the RHW POU system are much higher than those of water produced from RHW for non-potable use (Ghimire et al, 2014;Morales-Pinz on et al, 2012), primarily because of the increased energy used for treating and maintaining the water to potable standard. …”

Section: Life Cycle Analysis Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance assessment and life cycle analysis of potable water production from harvested rainwater by a decentralized system

Yan

Ward

Butler

et al. 2018

Journal of Cleaner Production

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tDecentralized rainwater harvesting (RWH) from roof runoff can complement the centralized supply of mains (drinking) water for a range of contexts, to assist in alleviating issues of water security. However, treatment to potable standard of harvested rainwater is not widespread. Consequently a comparative life cycle analysis (LCA) of decentralized and centralized potable water supply has not previously been undertaken. In this paper we describe a novel point-of-use (POU) treatment device, which was used to treat harvested rainwater to potable standard. We then provide a performance assessment for this system and an LCA with a comparison to centralized supply. Results of the performance assessment indicate a water saving efficiency (E T ) of between 0.6 and 100%, depending on rainfall (0.6 from April when rainfall was significantly below average). This highlights that the POU device was able to deal with the scale of roof runoff supply originating from a RWH system at a commercial building scale. The LCA results suggest that potable water produced from this decentralized RWH POU system currently performs more poorly than centralized water from an environmental perspective. Its impacts in most categories would be significantly reduced if the electricity consumed by the system were supplied from a renewable source such as solar PV or wind turbines instead of the UK grid. Priority should be given to optimizing the energy efficiency and exploring opportunities for combined use with renewable energy technologies in order to improve the environmental performance of POU treatment devices.

show abstract

“…Storage tanks often represent close to 50 % or greater of the cost of a rainwater harvesting system. From an environmental perspective, the rainwater tank can represent a very large portion of the embodied energy of the project and significantly affects life cycle impacts [55]. Very often, rainwater tanks are sized based on rules of thumb or monthly water supply, for example, the approach suggested in the Texas Rainwater Harvesting Manual [17].…”

Section: Storage Tankmentioning

confidence: 99%