Introduction Rainwater harvesting is becoming increasingly popular as the availability of good quality water decreases. Rainwater harvesting is acknowledged as a sustainable source of water that has less impact on the environment. In 2004, 17% of households in Australia had rainwater as a source of water. In rural Western Australia 62% of the households owned rainwater tanks and 53% had rainwat...

The traditional management of stormwater with a singular focus on flood protection has resulted in the degradation of receiving waters. The health of urban streams is degraded by a suite of stressors, notably, the frequent disturbance due to stormwater runoff. We investigate the catchment scale implications of allotment scale rainwater harvesting, in terms of potential simultaneous benefits for...

Since groundwater is diminishing rapidly in rural Beijing, rainwater harvesting for irrigation is being promoted. As the cost of pumping up groundwater is low, farmers have few incentives to use rainwater. To promote the consumption of rainwater, the Beijing Water Authority may in the future raise the cost of using groundwater by introducing a charge. Higher cost of groundwater will increase th...

Rainwater harvesting is effectively mandated in several urban areas of New Zealand. To understand the costs and benefits of rainwater harvesting from an end-user perspective, semistructured interviews were conducted with 14 homeowners in northern Auckland affected by these regulations. Residents report differences in four aspects of urban rainwater infrastructure - security of supply, water qua...

This paper reviews the design of rainwater harvesting systems used for potable water supply in Thailand, its implementation, socio-economic aspects, operation and maintenance, water quality aspects and current practice. Rainwater harvesting has become popular in rural areas of Thailand because of population growth, inaccessibility, contamination and unreliability or unavailability of central wa...

The global freshwater and energy crisis have prompted worldwide investments in rainwater harvesting and solar energy systems. As the implementation of these two systems develops concurrently, they can easily become integrated into one rooftop structure. Photovoltaic systems have the potential to leach heavy metals and other toxins from newly installed, broken or aged modules. Since the type of ...

Rainwater utilization has great potentials for recovering hydrological cycles, for buffering extreme run-off situations in the watercourses, and for reducing the costs for water supply in urban area. However, little information is available on the water qualities and runoff properties of collected rainwater, which is critical for efficient design and maintenance strategies of rainwater harvesti...

This research is an integration of GIS and multi-criteria decision making into a joint framework for identifying suitable areas for rainwater harvesting structures. The Kavir National park in Iran has been evaluated for suitability of rainwater harvesting. To this end, slope gradient, distance to guarding stations, distance to watering points for transporting collected water, distribution of wi...