A Review of Roof and Pond Rainwater Harvesting Systems for Water Security: The Design, Performance and Way Forward

• Published in: Water (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 11; p. 3163
• Main Authors: Zabidi, Husnna Aishah, Goh, Hui Weng, Chang, Chun Kiat, Chan, Ngai Weng, Zakaria, Nor Azazi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2020
• Subjects: Australia; Bangladesh; Canada; Climate change; Climatic changes; Drainage systems; Drinking water; Economic conditions; Energy consumption; Environmental aspects; Equatorial regions; Galvanized steel; Harvest; India; Malaysia; Natural resources; Ponds; Rain water; Rain-water (Water-supply); Rainwater recovery systems; Roofing; Runoff; Safety and security measures; Security; Social factors; Stormwater management; Sustainable development; Sustainable urban development; Underground storage; Urban areas; Urban drainage; Urbanization; Water conveyance; Water harvesting; Water security; Water shortages; Water supply; Canada; Bangladesh; Malaysia; Australia; India; Ireland
• ISSN: 2073-4441; 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w12113163

Rapid urbanization, population explosion and climate change have threatened water security globally, regionally and locally. While there are many ways of addressing these problems, one of the innovative techniques is the recent employment of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) which include rainwater harvesting systems (RWHS). Therefore, this paper reviews the design and component of two types of RWHS, the namely roof harvesting system (RHS) and the pond harvesting system (PHS). The performance in terms of quantity and quality of collected rainwater and energy consumption for RWHS with different capacities were evaluated, as well as the benefits and challenges particularly in environmental, economic and social aspects. Presently, the RHS is more commonly applied but its effectiveness is limited by its small scale. The PHS is of larger scale and has greater potentials and effectiveness as an alternative water supply system. Results also indicate the many advantages of the PHS especially in terms of economics, environmental aspects and volume of water harvested. While the RHS may be suited to individual or existing buildings, the PHS has greater potentials and should be applied in newly developed urban areas with wet equatorial climate.