IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/recore/v55y2011i11p1022-1029.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimisation of rainwater tank design from large roofs: A case study in Melbourne, Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Imteaz, Monzur Alam
  • Shanableh, Abdallah
  • Rahman, Ataur
  • Ahsan, Amimul

Abstract

Rainwater tanks for larger roof areas need optimisation of tank size, which is often not carried out before installation of these tanks. This paper presents a case study of rainwater tank evaluation and design for large roof areas, located in Melbourne, Australia, based on observed daily rainfall data representing three different climatic regimes (i.e. dry average, and wet years). With the aim of developing a comprehensive Decision Support Tool for the performance analysis and design of rainwater tanks, a simple spreadsheet based daily water balance model is developed using daily rainfall data, contributing roof area, rainfall loss factor, available storage volume, tank overflow and irrigation water demand. In this case study, two (185m3 and 110m3) underground rainwater tanks are considered. Using the developed model, effectiveness of each tank under different climatic scenarios are assessed. The analysis shows that both the tanks are quite effective in wet and average years, however less effective in dry years. A payback period analysis of the tanks is preformed which reveals that the total construction cost of the tanks can be recovered within 15–21 years time depending on tank size, climatic conditions and future water price increase rates. For the tanks, a relationship between water price increase rates and payback periods is developed. The study highlights the need for detailed optimisation and financial analysis for large rainwater tanks to maximise the benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Imteaz, Monzur Alam & Shanableh, Abdallah & Rahman, Ataur & Ahsan, Amimul, 2011. "Optimisation of rainwater tank design from large roofs: A case study in Melbourne, Australia," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(11), pages 1022-1029.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:55:y:2011:i:11:p:1022-1029
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2011.05.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344911000966
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resconrec.2011.05.013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ghisi, Enedir & Tavares, Davi da Fonseca & Rocha, Vinicius Luis, 2009. "Rainwater harvesting in petrol stations in Brasília: Potential for potable water savings and investment feasibility analysis," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 79-85.
    2. Tam, Vivian W.Y. & Tam, Leona & Zeng, S.X., 2010. "Cost effectiveness and tradeoff on the use of rainwater tank: An empirical study in Australian residential decision-making," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 178-186.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Moreira Neto, Ronan Fernandes & Carvalho, Isabella de Castro & Calijuri, Maria Lúcia & Santiago, Aníbal da Fonseca, 2012. "Rainwater use in airports: A case study in Brazil," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 36-43.
    2. Rahman, Ataur & Keane, Joseph & Imteaz, Monzur Alam, 2012. "Rainwater harvesting in Greater Sydney: Water savings, reliability and economic benefits," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 16-21.
    3. Imteaz, Monzur Alam & Ahsan, Amimul & Rahman, Ataur & Mekanik, Fatemeh, 2013. "Modelling stormwater treatment systems using MUSIC: Accuracy," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 15-21.
    4. Hashim, H. & Hudzori, A. & Yusop, Z. & Ho, W.S., 2013. "Simulation based programming for optimization of large-scale rainwater harvesting system: Malaysia case study," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1-9.
    5. Imteaz, Monzur Alam & Paudel, Upendra & Ahsan, Amimul & Santos, Cristina, 2015. "Climatic and spatial variability of potential rainwater savings for a large coastal city," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 105(PA), pages 143-147.
    6. Stec, Agnieszka & Kordana, Sabina, 2015. "Analysis of profitability of rainwater harvesting, gray water recycling and drain water heat recovery systems," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 105(PA), pages 84-94.
    7. Cook, Stephen & Sharma, Ashok K & Gurung, Thulo Ram, 2014. "Evaluation of alternative water sources for commercial buildings: A case study in Brisbane, Australia," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 86-93.
    8. Imteaz, Monzur Alam & Ahsan, Amimul & Shanableh, Abdallah, 2013. "Reliability analysis of rainwater tanks using daily water balance model: Variations within a large city," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 37-43.
    9. Bocanegra-Martínez, Andrea & Ponce-Ortega, José María & Nápoles-Rivera, Fabricio & Serna-González, Medardo & Castro-Montoya, Agustín Jaime & El-Halwagi, Mahmoud M., 2014. "Optimal design of rainwater collecting systems for domestic use into a residential development," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 44-56.
    10. Santos, C. & Taveira-Pinto, F., 2013. "Analysis of different criteria to size rainwater storage tanks using detailed methods," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 1-6.
    11. Imteaz, Monzur Alam & Adeboye, Omotayo B. & Rayburg, Scott & Shanableh, Abdallah, 2012. "Rainwater harvesting potential for southwest Nigeria using daily water balance model," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 51-55.
    12. Imteaz, Monzur Alam & Ahsan, Amimul & Naser, Jamal & Rahman, Ataur, 2011. "Reliability analysis of rainwater tanks in Melbourne using daily water balance model," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 80-86.
    13. Imteaz, Monzur Alam & Rahman, Ataur & Ahsan, Amimul, 2012. "Reliability analysis of rainwater tanks: A comparison between South-East and Central Melbourne," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 1-7.
    14. Jing, Xueer & Zhang, Shouhong & Zhang, Jianjun & Wang, Yujie & Wang, Yunqi, 2017. "Assessing efficiency and economic viability of rainwater harvesting systems for meeting non-potable water demands in four climatic zones of China," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 74-85.
    15. Moniruzzaman, Muhammad & Imteaz, Monzur A., 2017. "Generalized equations, climatic and spatial variabilities of potential rainwater savings: A case study for Sydney," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 139-156.
    16. Okoye, Chiemeka Onyeka & Solyalı, Oğuz & Akıntuğ, Bertuğ, 2015. "Optimal sizing of storage tanks in domestic rainwater harvesting systems: A linear programming approach," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 104(PA), pages 131-140.
    17. Mahmood, Asif & Hossain, Faisal, 2017. "Feasibility of managed domestic rainwater harvesting in South Asian rural areas using remote sensing," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 157-168.
    18. Youn, Seok-goo & Chung, Eun-Sung & Kang, Won Gu & Sung, Jang Hyun, 2012. "Probabilistic estimation of the storage capacity of a rainwater harvesting system considering climate change," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 136-144.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rahman, Ataur & Keane, Joseph & Imteaz, Monzur Alam, 2012. "Rainwater harvesting in Greater Sydney: Water savings, reliability and economic benefits," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 16-21.
    2. Eroksuz, Erhan & Rahman, Ataur, 2010. "Rainwater tanks in multi-unit buildings: A case study for three Australian cities," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(12), pages 1449-1452.
    3. Farreny, R. & Gabarrell, X. & Rieradevall, J., 2011. "Cost-efficiency of rainwater harvesting strategies in dense Mediterranean neighbourhoods," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(7), pages 686-694.
    4. Moreira Neto, Ronan Fernandes & Calijuri, Maria Lúcia & Carvalho, Isabella de Castro & Santiago, Aníbal da Fonseca, 2012. "Rainwater treatment in airports using slow sand filtration followed by chlorination: Efficiency and costs," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 124-129.
    5. Imteaz, Monzur Alam & Paudel, Upendra & Ahsan, Amimul & Santos, Cristina, 2015. "Climatic and spatial variability of potential rainwater savings for a large coastal city," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 105(PA), pages 143-147.
    6. Hashim, H. & Hudzori, A. & Yusop, Z. & Ho, W.S., 2013. "Simulation based programming for optimization of large-scale rainwater harvesting system: Malaysia case study," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1-9.
    7. Imteaz, Monzur Alam & Ahsan, Amimul & Shanableh, Abdallah, 2013. "Reliability analysis of rainwater tanks using daily water balance model: Variations within a large city," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 37-43.
    8. Campisano, Alberto & Modica, Carlo, 2012. "Optimal sizing of storage tanks for domestic rainwater harvesting in Sicily," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 9-16.
    9. Proença, Lúcio Costa & Ghisi, Enedir & Tavares, Davi da Fonseca & Coelho, Gabriel Marcon, 2011. "Potential for electricity savings by reducing potable water consumption in a city scale," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(11), pages 960-965.
    10. Geraldi, Matheus Soares & Ghisi, Enedir, 2017. "Influence of the length of rainfall time series on rainwater harvesting systems: A case study in Berlin," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 169-180.
    11. Şevik, Seyfi & Aktaş, Ahmet, 2022. "Performance enhancing and improvement studies in a 600 kW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant; manual and natural cleaning, rainwater harvesting and the snow load removal on the PV arrays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 490-503.
    12. Agnieszka Stec & Daniel Słyś, 2022. "Financial and Social Factors Influencing the Use of Unconventional Water Systems in Single-Family Houses in Eight European Countries," Resources, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-25, January.
    13. Jing, Xueer & Zhang, Shouhong & Zhang, Jianjun & Wang, Yujie & Wang, Yunqi, 2017. "Assessing efficiency and economic viability of rainwater harvesting systems for meeting non-potable water demands in four climatic zones of China," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 74-85.
    14. Okoye, Chiemeka Onyeka & Solyalı, Oğuz & Akıntuğ, Bertuğ, 2015. "Optimal sizing of storage tanks in domestic rainwater harvesting systems: A linear programming approach," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 104(PA), pages 131-140.
    15. Stec, Agnieszka & Kordana, Sabina, 2015. "Analysis of profitability of rainwater harvesting, gray water recycling and drain water heat recovery systems," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 105(PA), pages 84-94.
    16. Imteaz, Monzur Alam & Adeboye, Omotayo B. & Rayburg, Scott & Shanableh, Abdallah, 2012. "Rainwater harvesting potential for southwest Nigeria using daily water balance model," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 51-55.
    17. Silva, Cristina Matos & Sousa, Vitor & Carvalho, Nuno Vaz, 2015. "Evaluation of rainwater harvesting in Portugal: Application to single-family residences," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 21-34.
    18. Karolina Fitobór & Bernard Quant, 2021. "Is the Microfiltration Process Suitable as a Method of Removing Suspended Solids from Rainwater?," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-16, March.
    19. Abedin Mohammad-Hosseinpour & José-Luis Molina, 2022. "Improving the Sustainability of Urban Water Management through Innovative Groundwater Recharge System (GRS)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    20. Rashidi Mehrabadi, Mohammad Hossein & Saghafian, Bahram & Haghighi Fashi, Fereshte, 2013. "Assessment of residential rainwater harvesting efficiency for meeting non-potable water demands in three climate conditions," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 86-93.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:55:y:2011:i:11:p:1022-1029. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kai Meng (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/resources-conservation-and-recycling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.