Water Supply and Stormwater Management Benefits of Residential Rainwater Harvesting in U.S. Cities

Steffen, Jennifer; Jensen, Mark E.; Pomeroy, Christine; Burian, Steven J.

doi:10.1111/jawr.12038

Cited by 165 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…A wider review of literature and RWH system design tools illustrates that appraisal beyond financial benefit is lacking [18][19][20]. An appraisal under a single objective "maximise whole-life financial benefit of water reuse" omits many of the nuanced benefits offered by RWH systems.…”

Section: Existing Cost-benefit Approaches To Rwh Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rainwater Harvesting Typologies for UK Houses: A Multi Criteria Analysis of System Configurations

Melville‐Shreeve

Ward

Butler

2016

Water

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Academic research and technological innovation associated with rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems in the UK has seen a shift of emphasis in recent years. Traditional design approaches use whole life cost assessments that prioritise financial savings associated with the provision of an alternative water supply. However, researchers and practitioners are increasingly recognising broader benefits associated with rainwater reuse, such as stormwater attenuation benefits. This paper identifies and describes a set of novel RWH system configurations that have potential for deployment in UK houses. Conceptual schematics are provided to define these innovations alongside traditional configurations. Discussion of the drivers supporting these configurations illustrates the opportunities for RWH deployment in a wide range of settings. A quantitative multi criteria analysis was used to evaluate and score the configurations under a range of emerging criteria. The work identifies several RWH system configurations that can outperform traditional ones in terms of specified cost and benefits. Selection of a specific RWH technology is shown to be highly dependent on user priorities. It is proposed that the system configurations highlighted could enable RWH to be cost-effectively installed in a broad set of contexts that have experienced minimal exploitation to date.

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Section: Existing Cost-benefit Approaches To Rwh Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rainwater Harvesting Typologies for UK Houses: A Multi Criteria Analysis of System Configurations

Melville‐Shreeve

Ward

Butler

2016

Water

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“…One is the perspective of the water supply, mainly to discuss water supply management [8][9][10][11][12] and unconventional water resource utilization [13][14][15][16]. The other is the perspective of urban water demand, which mainly focuses on water conservation [17][18][19][20] and water use efficiency improvement [21][22][23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Use Efficiency Improvement against a Backdrop of Expanding City Agglomeration in Developing Countries—A Case Study on Industrial and Agricultural Water Use in the Bohai Bay Region of China

Bai

Zhou

Zhao

et al. 2017

Water

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Most city agglomerations of developing countries face water shortages and pollution due to population growth and industrial aggregation. To meet such water security challenges, policy makers need to evaluate water use efficiency at the regional or basin level because the prosperity of city agglomerations is indispensable to the sustainable development of the region or basin. To solve the issue, this paper adopts a non-directional distance function within the framework of environmental production technology to measure water use efficiency. Based on the distance between actual water use efficiency and the ideal efficiency, it calculates the potential reduction space of water input and pollutants by slack adjustment. Added to the Malmquist index, it forms a non-radial Malmquist water use performance index, which can be divided into technological change and technical efficiency change, to measure dynamic water use efficiency. Further, water use efficiency change is analyzed from the perspectives of technological improvement and institutional construction. Bohai Bay city agglomeration, a typical water-deficient city agglomeration in China, is taken as a case study, and data on water resource, environment, and economy from 2011 to 2014 have been used. In conclusion, there is much space for water use efficiency improvement on the whole. However, even having considered potential reduction space of water input and pollutant discharge under current environmental production technology, it is still not enough to support the city agglomeration's sustainable development. To relieve current potential water safety hazards, not only technical improvement but also institution innovation for highly efficient water use should be kept accelerating in Bohai Bay region. In terms of urban water management in developing countries, the research conclusion is of theoretical and practical significance.

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“…A rainwater harvesting system not only reduces stormwater, but also provides an additional water resource. Steffen et al [16] showed that a 190-liter rain barrel installed for a household of four persons can provide a water saving efficiency of approximately 50% of the nonpotable indoor water demand in regions with higher annual precipitation. Walsh et al [17] evaluated rainwater harvesting systems of different capacities and identified that the 227-litter rain barrel is the most cost-effective in their case study location.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stormwater Management toward Water Supply at the Community Scale—A Case Study in Northern Taiwan

Tung

Chen

2017

Sustainability

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Adaptation measures are necessary for reducing the impacts of extreme climatic events, especially at the community scale. Constructed wetlands and rainwater harvesting systems are commonly used as on-site water supply systems for distributed adaptation. The purpose of this study is to build a community water supply model and to evaluate the performance of low impact development (LID) modules as water supply facilities. The community water supply model simulates four water balances, namely, household storage, the constructed wetland, the rainwater harvesting system, and paddy fields. Three performance indicators are utilized, namely, the water saving efficiency, tolerance duration, and water use efficiency. The results show that the rainwater harvesting system saves up to 25.8% of the total domestic water demand, and the constructed wetland saves up to 40% of the irrigation water demand in Xingshi Village, located in northern Taiwan. In conclusion, the constructed wetland and rainwater harvesting system are good candidates for on-site water supply systems at the community scale. However, constructing a community water supply system requires more study, including a climate change risk assessment and the optimization of adaptation measures.

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Water Supply and Stormwater Management Benefits of Residential Rainwater Harvesting in U.S. Cities

Cited by 165 publications

References 29 publications

Rainwater Harvesting Typologies for UK Houses: A Multi Criteria Analysis of System Configurations

Rainwater Harvesting Typologies for UK Houses: A Multi Criteria Analysis of System Configurations

Water Use Efficiency Improvement against a Backdrop of Expanding City Agglomeration in Developing Countries—A Case Study on Industrial and Agricultural Water Use in the Bohai Bay Region of China

Stormwater Management toward Water Supply at the Community Scale—A Case Study in Northern Taiwan

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