Decentralized, household water systems have been increasingly integrated into the centralized urban water networks to address challenges related to water stress and shortage, sustainable water production, and network resilience. However, our understanding regarding how different geospatial, housing type, and climate conditions can potentially influence the economic and water-saving benefits of different decentralized water systems remains limited. This study combined system dynamics modeling with life cycle cost assessment to investigate the payback time and water-saving benefits of household greywater recycling (GWR) and rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems in a typical single family and a typical multifamily house across 12 different cities within the United States. We found that for GWR systems, cities had optimum tank sizes of 2–3 m3 for multifamily housing and 0.75–0.85 m3 for single-family housing. Optimal tank sizes for RWH ranged from 5 to 10 m3 for multifamily housing and 4–6 m3 for single-family housing. Percent demand met for GWR systems ranged from 70% to 90% of the designated nonpotable usages, whereas RWH systems ranged from 50% to 70% across all cities. When the tank size is optimized for payback time, the percent demand met is generally 10% lower than the highest achievable demand met. This indicates a tradeoff between sizing for minimized payback time or maximized demand met. Overall, Boston, Seattle, and Atlanta performed the best in terms of payback time and demand met regardless of housing and system types.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbbasiT., and AbbasiS.A. (2011). Sources of pollution in rooftop rainwater harvesting systems and their control. Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol. 41, 2097.
BonoliA., Di FuscoE., ZanniS., LauriolaI., CirielloV., and Di FedericoV. (2019). Green smart technology for water (GST4Water): Life cycle analysis of urban water consumption. Water, 11, 389.
BrownT.C., MahatV., and RamirezJ.A. (2019). Adaptation to future water shortages in the United States caused by population growth and climate change. Earth's Future, 7, 219.
8.
CampisanoA., ButlerD., WardS., BurnsM.J., FriedlerE., DeBuskK., Fisher-JeffesL.N., GhisiE., RahmanA., FurumaiH., and HanM. (2017). Urban rainwater harvesting systems: Research, implementation and future perspectives. Water Res. 115, 195.
DasO., BeraP., and MoulickS. (2015). Water conservation aspects of green buildings. Int. J. Res. Eng. Technol. 4, 75.
14.
DespinsC., FarahbakhshK., and LeidlC. (2009). Assessment of rainwater quality from rainwater harvesting systems in Ontario, Canada. J. Water Supply Res. Technol. AQUA, 58, 117.
15.
DomènechL., and SauríD. (2011). A comparative appraisal of the use of rainwater harvesting in single and multi-family buildings of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (Spain): Social experience, drinking water savings and economic costs. J. Clean. Prod. 19, 598.
16.
DSIRE. (2020). Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency. Available at: https://www.dsireusa.org/ (accessed March22, 2021).
17.
EA. (2010). Harvesting Rainwater for Domestic Uses: An Information Guide. Available at: www.environment-agency.gov.uk (accessed March22, 2021).
ErikssonE.H. (2002). Potential and Problems Related to Reuse of Water in Households. Lyngby: Environment and Resources, Technical University of Denmark, DTU.
FewkesA., and ButlerD. (2000). Simulating the performance of rainwater collection and reuse systems using behavioural models. Build. Serv. Eng. Res. Technol. 21, 99.
24.
FewtrellL., and KayD. (2007). Microbial quality of rainwater supplies in developed countries: A review. Urban Water J. 4, 253.
25.
FordA. (2010). Modeling the Environment. , 2nd edition. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
FriedlerE. (2008). The water saving potential and the socio-economic feasibility of greywater reuse within the urban sector - Israel as a case study. Int. J. Environ. Stud. 65, 57.
28.
FriedlerE., KovalioR., and GalilN. (2005). On-site greywater treatment and reuse in multi-storey buildings. Water Sci. Technol. 51, 187.
29.
Ghaffarian HoseiniA., TookeyJ., GhaffarianHoseiniA., YusoffS.M., and HassanN.B. (2016). State of the art of rainwater harvesting systems towards promoting green built environments: A review. Desalin. Water Treat.57, 95.
30.
GoatleyM.Jr. (2015). Fall lawn care. Virginia Cooperative Extension. 430, 1.
HamelP., and FletcherT.D. (2014). The impact of stormwater source-control strategies on the (low) flow regime of urban catchments. Water Sci. Technol. 69, 739.
HashimH., HudzoriA., YusopZ., and HoW.S. (2013). Simulation based programming for optimization of large-scale rainwater harvesting system: Malaysia case study. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 80, 1.
35.
HWW. (2018). Water Use, Efficiency and Savings - Indoor Use. Home Water Works: Alliance for Water Efficiency. Available at: https://www.home-water-works.org/indoor-use (accessed March22, 2021).
36.
IlemobadeA.A., OlanrewajuO.O., and GriffioenM.L. (2013). Greywater reuse for toilet flushing at a university academic and residential building. Water SA WISA 2012 Conf. Special Ed., 39, 351.
37.
IWMI. (2018). International Water Management Institute 32(IWMI): A Water-Secure World. Available at: https://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/ (accessed March22, 2021).
38.
JeffersonB., LaineA., Le ClechP., DiaperC., CarterB., and JuddS. (2000). Technologies for domestic wastewater recycling. Environ. Prot. Bull. 64, 8.
39.
JenkinsD., PearsonF., MooreE., KimS.J., and ValentineR. (1978). Feasibility of Rainwater Collection Systems in California. Davis, CA: California Water Resources Center, University of California, p. 173.
40.
JeongH., BroesickeO.A., DrewB., and CrittendenJ.C. (2018). Life cycle assessment of small-scale greywater reclamation systems combined with conventional centralized water systems for the City of Atlanta, Georgia. J. Clean. Prod. 174, 333.
LamC.M., LengL., ChenP.C., LeeP.H., and HsuS.C. (2017). Eco-efficiency analysis of non-potable water systems in domestic buildings. Appl. Energy, 202, 293.
43.
Lawns. (2018). Lawncare Advice, Maintenance, and Care. Available at: www.american-lawns.com/ (last accessed March22, 2021).
LeighN., and LeeH. (2019). Sustainable and resilient urban water systems: The role of decentralization and planning. Sustainability, 11, 918.
46.
LeongJ.Y.C., OhK.S., PohP.E., and ChongM.N. (2017). Prospects of hybrid rainwater-greywater decentralised system for water recycling and reuse: A review. J. Clean. Prod., 142, 3014.
47.
LesjeanB., and GnirssR. (2006). Grey water treatment with a membrane bioreactor operated at low SRT and low HRT. Desalination, 199, 432.
48.
LiF., WichmannK., and OtterpohlR. (2009). Review of the technological approaches for grey water treatment and reuses. Sci. Total Environ. 407, 3439.
49.
LiuR., HuangX., ChenL., WenX., and QianY. (2005). Operational performance of a submerged membrane bioreactor for reclamation of bath wastewater. Process Biochem. 40, 125.
50.
MaedaM., NakadaK., KawamotoK., and IkedaM. (1996). Area-wide use of reclaimed water in Tokyo, Japan. Water Sci. Technol. 33, 51.
51.
MankadA., and TapsuwanS. (2011). Review of socio-economic drivers of community acceptance and adoption of decentralised water systems. J. Environ. Manag. 92, 380.
52.
MarinoskiA.K., RuppR.F., and GhisiE. (2018). Environmental benefit analysis of strategies for potable water savings in residential buildings. J. Environ. Manag. 206, 28.
53.
MarteleiraR., and NizaS. (2018). Does rainwater harvesting pay? Water–energy nexus assessment as a tool to achieve sustainability in water management. J. Water Clim. Change, 9, 480.
54.
MemonF.A., ButlerD., HanW., LiuS., MakropoulosC., AveryL.M., and PidouM. (2005). Economic assessment tool for greywater recycling systems. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng. Eng. Sustain. 158, 155.
55.
Morales-PinzónT., RieradevallJ., GasolC.M., and GabarrellX. (2015). Modelling for economic cost and environmental analysis of rainwater harvesting systems. J. Clean. Prod. 87, 613.
Mwenge KahindaJ., TaigbenuA.E., SejamoholoB.B.P., LillieE.S.B., and BorotoR.J. (2009). A GIS-based decision support system for rainwater harvesting (RHADESS). Phys. Chem. Earth, 34, 767.
NOAA. (2018). Climate Data Online. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | U.S. Department of Commerce. Available at: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/ (accessed March22, 2021).
62.
NoldeE. (2000). Greywater reuse systems for toilet flushing in multi-storey buildings - over ten years experience in Berlin. Urban Water, 1, 275.
OtterpohlR., AlboldA., and OldenburgM. (1999). Source control in urban sanitation and waste management: Ten systems with reuse of resources. Water Sci. Technol. 39, 153.
RahmanA., DbaisJ., MitchellC., RonaldsonP., and ShresthaS. (2007). Study of rainwater tanks as a source of alternative water supply in a multistorey residential building in Sydney Australia. Restoring Our Natural Habitat - Proceedings of the 2007 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress. Tampa, FL.
67.
RahmanA., KeaneJ., and ImteazM.A. (2012). Rainwater harvesting in Greater Sydney: Water savings, reliability and economic benefits. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 61, 16.
RoebuckR.M., Oltean-DumbravaC., and TaitS. (2011). Whole life cost performance of domestic rainwater harvesting systems in the United Kingdom. Water Environ. J. 25, 355.
SiegelM. (2015). Water Trestment in Rainwater Hharvesting Systems for Potable Use. Water Resources Action Project (WRAP). Available at: https://www.wrapdc.org/ (accessed March22, 2021).
76.
SilvaC.M., SousaV., and CarvalhoN.V. (2015). Evaluation of rainwater harvesting in Portugal: Application to single-family residences. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 94, 21.
77.
SongC., and MoW. (2019). A temporal perspective to dam management: Influence of dam life and threshold fishery conditions on the energy-fish tradeoff. Stoch. Environ. Res. Risk Assess. 35, 83.
UNDP. (2006). Human Development Report 2006 Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis. Available at: www.hdr.undp.org (accessed March22, 2021).
83.
UralS., HussainE., and ShanJ. (2011). Building population mapping with aerial imagery and GIS data. Int J. Appl. Earth Observ. Geoinform. 13, 841.
VialleC., SablayrollesC., LoveraM., JacobS., HuauM.C., and Montrejaud-VignolesM. (2011). Monitoring of water quality from roof runoff: Interpretation using multivariate analysis. Water Res. 45, 3765.
88.
VieiraA.S., BealC.D., GhisiE., and StewartR.A. (2014). Energy intensity of rainwater harvesting systems: A review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 34, 225.
89.
VítkováE., HromádkaV., and RaclavskýJ. (2014). Economic analysis of the greywater treatment project. International Scientific Conference People, Buildings and Environment 2014 (PBE2014), 15–17 October, 2014, KKroměříž, Czech Republic. p. 478. Available at: https://www.fce.vutbr.cz/ekr/PBE/Proceedings/2014/048_14124.pdf (last accessed March22, 2021).
WangR., and ZimmermanJ.B. (2015). Economic and environmental assessment of office building rainwater harvesting systems in various U.S. Cities. Environ. Sci. Technol. 49, 1768.
92.
WardS., ButlerD., and MemonF. (2012a). Benchmarking energy consumption and CO2 emissions from rainwater-harvesting systems: An improved method by proxy. Water Environ. J. 26, 184.
93.
WardS., MemonF.A., and ButlerD. (2010). Rainwater harvesting: Model-based design evaluation. Water Sci. Technol. 61, 85.
94.
WardS., Memon, F. and ButlerD. (2012b). Performance of a large building rainwater harvesting system. Water Res. 46, 5127.
WilluweitL., and O'SullivanJ.J. (2013). A decision support tool for sustainable planning of urban water systems: Presenting the dynamic urban water simulation model. Water Res. 47, 7206.
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
