Abstract
Rainwater harvesting systems have been studied in different regions considering their performance, design, and life cycle analysis. However, their performance has not been compared with conventional water sources. The novelty of this study rests in examining the performance and potency of the rainwater harvesting system and the conventional sources of water for potable and non-potable demand. This study has two-fold objectives. Firstly, the challenges and sufficiency of existing water sources for potable and non-potable demand are examined by considering the water gallon delivery at the doorstep, government supply line, tanker-based supply, and extraction of water through bore wells. Secondly, the cost-effectiveness of several water sources is examined using four models. Each model combines water sources for potable and non-potable demand. A comparison is drawn between the cost-effectiveness of current practices and the rainwater harvesting system. The findings suggest that the rainwater harvesting system is more cost-effective than conventional water sources; however, it needs to be coupled with the government supply line to meet the non-potable water demand. On average, five other houses can be covered by the rainwater harvesting system. Implications are drawn to help governments and practitioners consider sustainable social well-being actions and promote rain harvesting through rebates.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of Data and Material
Data will be made available upon request.
Code Availability
Not applicable.
Abbreviations
- \(TAC\) :
-
Tanker capacity (Litres)
- \(\omega\) :
-
Fraction of additional houses in the street (dimensionless)
- \({c}_{gt}\) :
-
Cost of government tanker/order (PKR/tanker)
- \({c}_{pt}\) :
-
Cost of private tanker/order (PKR/tanker)
- \({CG}_{year}\) :
-
Cost of government supply through lines per year (PKR/year)
- \(D\) :
-
Yearly water demand of a household (\(D={D}_{NP}+D_{P}\); Litres)
- \({D}_{NP}\) :
-
Yearly non-potable water demand of a household (Litres)
- \({D}_{P}\) :
-
Yearly potable water demand of a household (Litres)
- \({TC}_{NP}^{M1}\) :
-
The Total cost of non-potable water of Model 1 (supply through lines, government tanker, private tanker) (PKR)
- \({TC}_{NP}^{M2}\) :
-
The Total cost of non-potable water of Model 2 (total cost of boring (PKR))
- \({TC}_{NP}^{M3}\) :
-
The Total cost of non-potable water of Model 3 (cost of RWH system (PKR))
- \({TC}_{NP}^{M4}\) :
-
The Total cost of non-potable water of Model 4 (cost of RWH system and supply through lines (PKR))
- \({FC}_{B}\) :
-
Fixed cost of boring (PKR)
- \({VC}_{B}\) :
-
The Variable cost of boring (PKR)
References
Abd-el-Kader MM, El-Feky AM, Saber M, AlHarbi MM, Alataway A, Alfaisal FM (2023) Designating appropriate areas for flood mitigation and rainwater harvesting in arid region using a GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis. Water Resour Manag 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-022-03416-6
Abeer N, Khan SA, Muhammad S, Rasool A, Ahmad I (2020) Health risk assessment and provenance of arsenic and heavy metal in drinking water in Islamabad. Pakistan. Environ Technol Innov 1(20):101171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2020.101171
Ali S, Sang YF (2023) Implementing rainwater harvesting systems as a novel approach for saving water and energy in flat urban areas. Sustain Cities Soc 89:104304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2022.104304
Ali S, Zhang S, Yue T (2020) Environmental and economic assessment of rainwater harvesting systems under five climatic conditions of Pakistan. J Clean Prod 259:120829. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120829
Alim MA, Rahman A, Tao Z, Samali B, Khan MM, Shirin S (2020) Feasibility analysis of a small-scale rainwater harvesting system for drinking water production at Werrington, New South Wales, Australia. J Clean Prod 270:122437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122437
Amos CC, Ahmed A, Rahman A (2020) Sustainability in water provision in rural communities: the feasibility of a village scale rainwater harvesting scheme. Water Resour Manag 34:4633–4647. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-020-02679-1
Basinger M, Montalto F, Lall U (2010) A rainwater harvesting system reliability model based on nonparametric stochastic rainfall generator. J Hydrol 392(3–4):105–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.07.039
Chen X, Li F, Li X, Hu Y, Hu P (2020) Evaluating and mapping water supply and demand for sustainable urban ecosystem management in Shenzhen. China. J Clean Prod 251:119754. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119754
Ferreira A, Sousa V, Pinheiro M, Meireles I, Silva C M, Brito J, Mateus R (2023) Potential of rainwater harvesting in the retail sector: a case study in Portugal. Environ Sci Pollut Res 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25137-y
Ghisi E, Bressan DL, Martini M (2007) Rainwater tank capacity and potential for potable water savings by using rainwater in the residential sector of southeastern Brazil. Build Environ 42(4):1654–1666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2006.02.007
Ghodsi SH, Zhu Z, Matott LS, Rabideau AJ, Torres MN (2023) Optimal siting of rainwater harvesting systems for reducing combined sewer overflows at city scale. Water Res 230:119533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2022.119533
Guizani M (2016) Storm water harvesting in Saudi Arabia: a multipurpose water management alternative. Water Resour Manag 30(5):1819–1833. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-016-1255-4
Hayder R, Hafeez M, Zaheer M (2022) Challenges for sustainable water use in the northern part of Pakistan focusing on hydrology assessment of non-industrial zone. J Clean Prod 349:131166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131166
Jing X, Zhang S, Zhang J, Wang Y, Wang Y (2017) Assessing efficiency and economic viability of rainwater harvesting systems for meeting non-potable water demands in four climatic zones of China. Resour Conserv Recycl 126:74–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.07.027
Kus B, Kandasamy J, Vigneswaran S, Shon HK (2010) Analysis of first flush to improve the water quality in rainwater tanks. Water Sci Technol 61(2):421–428. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2010.823
Liang X, van Dijk MP (2011) Economic and financial analysis on rainwater harvesting for agricultural irrigation in the rural areas of Beijing. Resour Conserv Recycl 55(11):1100–1108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2011.06.009
Luna T, Ribau J, Figueiredo D, Alves R (2019) Improving energy efficiency in water supply systems with pump scheduling optimization. J Clean Prod 213:342–356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.190
Matomela N, Li T, Ikhumhen HO (2020) Siting of rainwater harvesting potential sites in arid or semi-arid watersheds using GIS-based techniques. Environ Process 7:631–652. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-020-00434-7
Nachson U, Silva CM, Sousa V, Ben-Hur M, Kurtzman D, Netzer L, Livshitz Y (2022) New modelling approach to optimize rainwater harvesting system for non-potable uses and groundwater recharge: A case study from Israel. Sust Cities Soc 85:104097. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2022.104097
Nanekely M, Scholz M (2017) Sustainable management of rainwater harvesting systems: A case study of a semi-arid area. Eur Water 933–939
Ndeketeya A, Dundu M (2022) Urban rainwater harvesting adoption potential in a socio-economically diverse city using a GIS-based multi-criteria decision method. Water Resour Manag 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-022-03407-7
Nguyen DC, Han MY (2017) Proposal of simple and reasonable method for design of rainwater harvesting system from limited rainfall data. Resour Conserv Recycl 126:219–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.07.033
Okoye CO, Solyalı O, Akıntuğ B (2015) Optimal sizing of storage tanks in domestic rainwater harvesting systems: A linear programming approach. Resour Conserv Recycl 104:131–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.08.015
Rahman A, Keane J, Imteaz MA (2012) Rainwater harvesting in Greater Sydney: Water savings, reliability and economic benefits. Resour Conserv Recycl 61:16–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2011.12.002
Rashid O, Awan FM, Ullah Z, Hassan I (2018) Rainwater harvesting, a measure to meet domestic water requirement; a case study Islamabad, Pakistan. InIOP Conf Ser Mater Sci Eng 414(1):012–018. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/414/1/012018
Satoh Y, Kahil T, Byers E, Burek P, Fischer G, Tramberend S, Greve P, Flörke M, Eisner S, Hanasaki N, Magnuszewski P, Nava LF, Cosgrove W, Langan S, Wada Y (2017) Multi-model and multi-scenario assessments of Asian water futures: The Water Futures and Solutions (WFaS) initiative. Earths Future 5:823–852. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016EF000503
Semaan M, Day SD, Garvin M, Ramakrishnan N, Pearce A (2020) Optimal sizing of rainwater harvesting systems for domestic water usages: A systematic literature review. Resour Conser Recycl X 6:100033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcrx.2020.100033
Shabbir R, Ahmad SS (2016) Water resource vulnerability assessment in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan using analytic hierarchy process (AHP). J King Saud Univ-Sci 28(4):293–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksus.2015.09.007
Shanmugavel N, Rajendran R (2022) Adoption of rainwater harvesting: a dual-factor approach by integrating theory of planned behaviour and norm activation model. Water Resour Manag 36(8):2827–2845. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-022-03179-0
Silva AS, Ghisi E (2016) Uncertainty analysis of daily potable water demand on the performance evaluation of rainwater harvesting systems in residential buildings. J Environ Manag 180:82–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.05.028
Sousa V, Silva CM, Meireles I (2019) Performance of water efficiency measures in commercial buildings. Resour Conserv Recycl 143:251–259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.01.013
Souto SL, Reis RPA, Campos MAS (2022) Impact of installing rainwater harvesting system on urban water management. Water Resour Manag 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-022-03374-z
Stamou AT, Rutschmann P (2017) Towards the optimization of water resource use in the Upper Blue Nile river basin. Eur Water 60
Stang S, Khalkhali M, Petrik M, Palace M, Lu Z, Mo W (2021) Spatially optimized distribution of household rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling systems. J Clean Prod 312:127736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127736
Valdez MC, Adler I, Barrett M, Ochoa R, Pérez A (2016) The water-energy-carbon nexus: optimising rainwater harvesting in Mexico City. Environ Process 3:307–323. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-016-0138-2
Ward S, Memon FA, Butler D (2012) Performance of a large building rainwater harvesting system. Water Res 46(16):5127–5134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2012.06.043
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics Approval
Not applicable.
Consent to Participate
Not applicable.
Consent for Publication
All authors consent for publications.
Competing interests
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Khan, A.S. A Comparative Analysis of Rainwater Harvesting System and Conventional Sources of Water. Water Resour Manage 37, 2083–2106 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-023-03479-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-023-03479-z