Rainwater harvesting for drinkingwater production: A sustainable and cost-effective solution in The Netherlands?

Roberta Hofman-Caris; Cheryl Bertelkamp; Luuk de Waal; Tessa van den Brand; Jan Hofman; René van der Aa; Jan Peter van der Hoek

doi:10.3390/w11030511

Rainwater harvesting for drinkingwater production: A sustainable and cost-effective solution in The Netherlands?

Roberta Hofman-Caris, Cheryl Bertelkamp, Luuk de Waal, Tessa van den Brand, Jan Hofman, René van der Aa, Jan Peter van der Hoek

Department of Chemical Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

59 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

An increasing number of people want to reduce their environmental footprint by using harvested rainwater as a source for drinking water. Moreover, implementing rainwater harvesting (RWH) enables protection against damage caused by increasing precipitation frequency and intensity, which is predicted for Western Europe. In this study, literature data on rainwater quality were reviewed, and based on Dutch climatological data the usable quantity of rainwater in the Netherlands was calculated. For two specific cases, (1) a densely populated city district and (2) a single house in a rural area, the total costs of ownership (TCO) for decentralized drinking water supply from harvested rainwater was calculated, and a life cycle assessment (LCA) was made. For the single house it was found that costs were very high (€60-€110/m ³ ), and the environmental impact would not decrease. For the city district, costs would be comparable to the present costs of centralized drinking water production and supply, but the environmental benefit is negligible (≤1‰). Furthermore, it was found that the amount of rainwater that can be harvested in the city district only covers about 50% of the demand. It was concluded that the application of rainwater harvesting for drinking water production in the Netherlands is not economically feasible.

Original language	English
Article number	511
Journal	Water (Switzerland)
Volume	11
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/w11030511
Publication status	Published - 12 Mar 2019

Funding

KWR Watercycle Research Institute, P.O. Box 1072, 3430 BB Nieuwegein, The Netherlands; [email protected] (C.B.); [email protected] (L.d.W.); [email protected] (T.v.d.B.); [email protected] (R.v.d.A.) Department of Chemical Engineering, Water Innovation and Research Centre, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK; [email protected] Waternet (Public Water Utility of Amsterdam and Regional Water Authority Amstel, Gooi and Vecht), Postbus 94370, 1090 GJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands; [email protected] Department of Water Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5, 2600 AA Delft, The Netherlands Correspondence: [email protected] Funding: This research was funded by a joint research programme (BTO) for the Dutch water companies De Watergroep (BE) and the branch association Vewin.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation
SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

Keywords

Drinking water
Footprint
Lifecycle analysis
Rainwater harvesting
Sustainability
Total cost of ownership
Urban water management

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Biochemistry
Geography, Planning and Development
Aquatic Science
Water Science and Technology

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10.3390/w11030511Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Rainwater harvesting for drinkingwater production: A sustainable and cost-effective solution in The Netherlands?",

abstract = " An increasing number of people want to reduce their environmental footprint by using harvested rainwater as a source for drinking water. Moreover, implementing rainwater harvesting (RWH) enables protection against damage caused by increasing precipitation frequency and intensity, which is predicted for Western Europe. In this study, literature data on rainwater quality were reviewed, and based on Dutch climatological data the usable quantity of rainwater in the Netherlands was calculated. For two specific cases, (1) a densely populated city district and (2) a single house in a rural area, the total costs of ownership (TCO) for decentralized drinking water supply from harvested rainwater was calculated, and a life cycle assessment (LCA) was made. For the single house it was found that costs were very high (€60-€110/m 3 ), and the environmental impact would not decrease. For the city district, costs would be comparable to the present costs of centralized drinking water production and supply, but the environmental benefit is negligible (≤1‰). Furthermore, it was found that the amount of rainwater that can be harvested in the city district only covers about 50\% of the demand. It was concluded that the application of rainwater harvesting for drinking water production in the Netherlands is not economically feasible. ",

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AU - van der Hoek, Jan Peter

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KW - Sustainability

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Rainwater harvesting for drinkingwater production: A sustainable and cost-effective solution in The Netherlands?

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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