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Modern Urban Rainwater Harvesting Systems: Design, Case Studies, and Impacts

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Sustainable Water Management in Urban Environments

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 47))

Abstract

The popularity of rainwater harvesting has increased in recent years due to increasing demands on strained water supplies and infrastructure and increasing awareness of the benefits of green stormwater infrastructure. Active rainwater harvesting systems, in which the water is captured and stored in a tank or similar container, can be a major source of water in urban areas supplying non-potable end uses such as irrigation, toilet flushing, and cooling towers. Harvested rainwater is also used for potable uses commonly in developing nations and rarely in developed nations. The benefits of rainwater harvesting systems extend beyond water conservation to include alleviating the impact of stormwater runoff on surface waters, contributing to groundwater preservation, and reducing dependency on utility potable water and consequently energy conservation. This chapter focuses on active rainwater harvesting systems design and discusses environmental impacts and economic and life cycle assessment of rainwater harvesting systems. The chapter concludes with recommendations on future research needs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA, USA

    Sarah Sojka

  2. Green Water-Infrastructure Academy, Washington, DC, USA

    Tamim Younos

  3. Rainwater Management Solutions, Inc., Salem, VA, USA

    David Crawford

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  1. Sarah Sojka
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  2. Tamim Younos
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  3. David Crawford
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Correspondence to Sarah Sojka .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Green Water-Infrastructure Academy, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Tamim Younos

  2. Department of Geography, Virginia Poly. Institute and State Univ., BLACKSBURG, Virginia, USA

    Tammy E. Parece

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Sojka, S., Younos, T., Crawford, D. (2016). Modern Urban Rainwater Harvesting Systems: Design, Case Studies, and Impacts. In: Younos, T., Parece, T. (eds) Sustainable Water Management in Urban Environments. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 47. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29337-0_7

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