Abstract
Natural water resources are becoming increasingly limited due to global-scale climate change and water availability issues have become so severe that they must be addressed. Given these issues, reuse of wastewater and rainwater provides a promising way to cope with water shortages. This paper describes an investigation into the efficiency of rainwater usage systems. A conceptual model was built to assess the behaviour of rainwater tanks and their effectiveness in coping with water shortages. The study is based on a long-term simulation (12 years) of different rainwater reuse tank schemes. The associated reductions in residential freshwater demand (water reuse efficiency) and wet-weather runoff delivered to the sewer system (sewer discharge efficiency) were surveyed. The results clearly show that rainwater usage systems can significantly reduce drinking water consumption. The specific volumes required for the reuse of rainwater are high; however, for local scale application, the specific volumes necessary are comparable to the reservoir volumes already used to store freshwater resources during potable water shortage.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barton, A.B., Argue, J.R.: Integrated urban water management for residential areas: a reuse model. Water Sci. Technol. 60(3), 813–823 (2009)
Deletic, A.: The first flush load of urban surface runoff. Water Res. 32(8), 2462–2470 (1998)
Deutsche Vereinigung fur Wasserwirtschaft, Abwasser und Abfall – DWA-A: Planning, Construction and Operation of Facilities for the Percolation of Precipitation Water, April 2005. ISBN 978-3-937758-74-9
Dixon, A., Butler, D., Fewkes, A.: Water saving potential of domestic water reuse systems using greywater and rainwater in combination. Water Sci. Technol. 39, 25–32 (1999)
Drapper, D., Tomlinson, R., Williams, P.: Pollutant concentrations in road runoff: Southeast Queensland case study. J. Environ. Eng. 126, 313–320 (2000)
Evans, C.A., Coombes, P.J., Dunstan, R.H., Harrison, T.: Extensive bacterial diversity indicates the potential operation of a dynamic micro-ecology within domestic rainwater storage systems. Sci. Total Environ. 407(19), 5206–5215 (2009)
Ghisi, E., Mengotti de Oliveira, S.: Potential for potable water savings by combining the use of rainwater and greywater in houses in Southern Brazil. Build. Environ. 42(4), 1731–1742 (2007)
Khare, P., Goel, A., Patel, D., Behari, J.: Chemical characterization of rainwater at a developing urban habitat of Northern India. Atmos. Res. 69, 135–145 (2004)
Kim, K., Yoo, C.: Hydrological modeling and evaluation of rainwater harvesting facilities: case study on several rainwater harvesting facilities in Korea. J. Hydrol. Eng. 14(6), 545–561 (2009)
Liu, S., Butler, D., Memon, F.A., Makropoulos, C., Avery, L., Jefferson, B.: Impacts of residence time during storage on potential of water saving for grey water recycling system. Water Res. 44(1), 267–277 (2010)
Mitchell, V.G., McCarthy, D.T., Deletic, A., Fletcher, T.D.: Urban stormwater harvesting - sensitivity of a storage behaviour model. Environ. Model Softw. 23(6), 782–793 (2008)
Vaes, G., Berlamont, J.: The effect of rainwater storage on design storms. Urban water 3(4), 303–307 (2001)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Freni, G., Mannina, G., Torregrossa, M., Viviani, G. (2019). Rainwater Reuse in Urban Areas: A Mathematical Model and a Long-Term Modelling Approach. In: Mannina, G. (eds) New Trends in Urban Drainage Modelling. UDM 2018. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99867-1_31
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99867-1_31
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99866-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99867-1
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)