Rainwater Storage

Abstract

Rainfall is not a continuous phenomenon. Therefore, to make rainwater available when there is no rain and there is dearth of water , rainwater must be collected and stored. A rainwater storage tank is one of the vital elements of rainwater harvesting in a building. Both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of rainwater harvesting are primarily dependent on the storage of rainwater. In developing appropriate and effective storage of rainwater, various factors, such as location, planning, size, aesthetics, and functionality of storage tanks, should be considered. The location of a rainwater-storage tank in a building must be judiciously decided due to having both the advantages and disadvantages of one particular choice out of multiple choices of locating the tank within or outside the building. It is important to plan how the rainwater will be stored, in conjunction with the water collected from other sources subject to the purpose of use considering the quality and quantity of water from different sources. The size of the storage tank is another factor to be decided giving the importance of the demand for rainwater, availability of rainwater, space for storage, and, above all cost of the tank. When tanks should be placed exposed, aesthetics may become a governing factor in deciding the shape and material of the tank. The functionality of the tank can be addressed by the reliability of the quality of stored rainwater. In this chapter, all aspects of rainwater storage are discussed focusing predominantly on the various options for locating the storage tank and identifying the advantages and disadvantages of all of the options.