Handbook of Water Harvesting and Conservation

27Towards Developing Generalized Equations for Calculating Potential Rainwater Savings

Monzur A. Imteaz¹, Muhammad Moniruzzaman¹, and Abdullah Yilmaz²

¹Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

²La Trobe University, Bendigo, VIC, Australia

27.1 Introduction

Rainwater tanks (RWTs) have been in use for centuries, mainly in remote areas where other suitable source(s) of water is limited or scarce. Even remote communities, after some preliminary treatments, use this harvested water for potable purposes. However, in the past this alternative water supply never got the attention of urban residents/authorities, where there exists a piped water supply network or other convenient alternative source(s). As such, optimization of tank size was not a crucial factor, as users installed RWTs in a large block of land, where users had plenty of remaining spaces for other purposes. Recently, with the pressure of ever-increasing populations in urban areas and consequently water demands, stressed with depletion and uncertainty of some existing water sources, water authorities and residents in urban areas also started installing RWTs, mainly to use such water for non-potable purposes and to reduce the total demand of potable water. Some developed nations adopted gray water reuse and wastewater recycling, both of which have safety concerns and as such require higher-level treatments, which consequently become expensive and non-feasible in many cases. In comparison to these expensive ...