Handbook of Water Harvesting and Conservation

12Risk Analysis of Water Harvesting Systems

Maria Do Céu Almeida¹, Nelson Carriço², João Santos³, and Saeid Eslamian⁴

¹Department of Hydraulics and Environment, National Laboratory of Civil Engineering, 1700-066 Lisboa, Portugal

²Barreiro School of Technology, Polytechnic Institute of Setubal, 2839-001 Lavradio, Portugal

³School of Management and Technology, Polytechnic Institute of Beja, 7800-295 Beja, Portugal

⁴Department of Water Engineering, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

12.1 Introduction

Rainwater harvesting systems (RWHS) can result in important benefits, but there are a number of potential negative risks. Clear understanding and management of risks by users, regulating authorities, water utilities, and society in general, are essential to ensure quality, safety, and return on investment. Especially where water is scarce, alternative sources of water need to be identified and case-specific solutions used.

Climate dynamics impose a more responsible use of resources and consideration of a portfolio of solutions to increase the resilience of urban systems (Muller 2007). The challenge resides on how to deal with existing and expected levels of risk and to take advantage of opportunities. The risks associated with RWHS depend on several factors and duly consideration is required to ensure that risks associated with this type of solutions are low.

Therefore, a generic and systematic approach to manage risk is required. This approach ...