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Resources, Conservation and Recycling 54 (2010) 14491452

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Resources, Conservation and Recycling


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/resconrec

Rainwater tanks in multi-unit buildings: A case study for three Australian cities
Erhan Eroksuz, Ataur Rahman
School of Engineering, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Rainwater tanks have become popular in large Australian cities due to water shortage and greater pub-
Received 4 February 2010 lic awareness towards sustainable urban development. Rainwater harvesting in multi-unit buildings in
Received in revised form 18 June 2010 Australia is less common. This paper investigates the water savings potential of rainwater tanks tted
Accepted 21 June 2010
in multi-unit residential buildings in three cities of Australia: Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong. It is
found that for multi-unit buildings, a larger tank size is more appropriate to maximise water savings. It is
Keywords:
also found that rainwater tank of appropriate size in a multi-unit building can provide signicant mains
Rainwater harvesting system
water savings even in dry years. A prediction equation is developed which can be used to estimate aver-
Rainwater collection
Potable water savings
age annual water savings from having a rainwater tank in a multi-unit building in these three Australian
Multi-unit building cities.
Crown Copyright 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction South Wales to save at least 40% potable water than the average one
by adopting various water savings techniques including installation
Australia is one of the driest inhabited continents on earth with of rainwater tanks.
highly variable rainfall. Although Australia has one of the high- There have been notable researches on rainwater tanks in Aus-
est per capital dam storage volumes in the world, reliability of tralia which have demonstrated that rainwater tanks can provide
water supply in most Australian cities is being questioned in recent signicant mains water savings (Coombes et al., 1999; Coombes
years due to on-going droughts, climate change and increased and Kuczera, 2003; Chanan and Woods, 2006; Marks et al., 2006;
public awareness towards water and environment. Water author- Khastagir and Jayasuriya, 2010; Tam et al., 2010). Most of the local
ities in Australia are desperately looking for alternative sources of councils in Australia encourage installation of rainwater tanks.
water including rainwater tanks in addition to recycling grey water, However, there have been limited researches on rainwater tanks
wastewater and use of desalination plants. Rainwater tanks have in multi-unit buildings/developments in Australia. As reported by
been a common water supply system in rural Australia for many Australian Bureau of Statistics (2010), over one-quarter (25.9%) of
years (EHAA, 1999). In 2007, 19.3%, or slightly more than 1.5 mil- separate houses had rainwater tanks installed, as opposed to only
lion households, reported a rainwater tank as a source of water 6.2% of semi-detached or townhouses. Nearly one-quarter (24.9%)
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). This was an increase from of family households had a rainwater tank installed compared with
17.2% in March 2004 and 15.2% in June 1994. In recent years, rain- only 13.2% of group households or multi-unit houses. These data
water tanks have re-emerged as an important alternative source clearly show that the water savings from rainwater tanks in multi-
of fresh water in Australian cities. Rainwater tank is an important unit buildings/developments need to be demonstrated through
component of water sensitive urban design (IEAust, 2006), which is research and also user-friendly tools should be made available to
a sustainable urban design practice. Rainwater tanks can save mains the public that can readily be used to estimate water savings and to
water signicantly, provide on-site detention and reduce treatable nd optimum rainwater tank size for multi-unit developments. As
urban runoff volume. The Building Sustainability Index (referred to such, this paper investigates water savings potential of rainwater
as BASIX) has been introduced by New South Wales Department tanks in typical multi-unit single storey residential developments
of Planning in Australia (NSWDP, 2005). It is a web-based tool that in the three cities of New South Wales State in Australia: Newcastle,
measures the potential performance of new residential dwellings Sydney and Wollongong.
against sustainability indices. BASIX requires all new houses in New

2. Water savings potentials of rainwater tanks


Corresponding author at: School of Engineering, University of Western Syd-
ney, Building XB248, Kingswood, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797,
Fewkes (1999) studied the performances of rainwater tanks in
Australia. Tel.: +61 247360145; fax: +61 247360833. a house in the UK, which produced a set of dimensionless design
E-mail address: a.rahman@uws.edu.au (A. Rahman). curves which enables estimation of the rainwater tank capacity

0921-3449/$ see front matter. Crown Copyright 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2010.06.010
1450 E. Eroksuz, A. Rahman / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 54 (2010) 14491452

Table 1
Selected rainfall stations.

City: Sydney Newcastle Wollongong


Rainfall station name: Sydney Observatory Hill Newcastle Nobbys Signal Station AWS Wollongong University

Station ID 66062 61055 68188


Period of record 18582005 18622005 19702005
Record length (years) 148 144 36
Average annual rainfall (mm) 1204 1140 1320

required to achieve a desired performance level given the roof For a multi-unit building, space for large rainwater tanks may be
area and demand patterns. Vaes and Berlamont (2001) developed a limited. However, it might be argued that if water savings is given
model to assess the effect of rainwater tanks on the rainfall runoff higher priority, space for rainwater tank would not be a problem.
using long-term historical rainfall data. Coombes and Kuczera For example, rainwater tank can be placed along the back fences
(2003) evaluated the performance of 110 kL rainwater tanks in of the house (say 0.50 m wide, 1.2 m high tank). Also, there have
four Australian capital cities with mains water trickle top-up used been examples that rainwater can be stored in foundation of the
to supplement mains water supply for domestic toilet, laundry, hot building, e.g. modular water POD storage system (RemTec, 2007).
water and outdoor usages. They found that for individual dwelling Also, instead of using a single large tank, a number of smaller tanks
with 150 m2 roof area and 15 kL tank size located in Sydney could connected in series can be adopted. Rainwater tanks can be incor-
achieve 1058% mains water savings depending on the number of porated with the landscaping of multi-unit development projects
people living in the house. Depending on roof area and number of with respect to size, location, shape and colour to make rainwater
occupants in the household, the use of rainwater tanks resulted in harvesting system aesthetically pleasing.
an annual mains water savings ranging from 18 kL to 55 kL for 1 kL
rainwater tank and 25 kL to 144 kL for 10 kL rainwater tank. 3. Study area and data
Villarreal and Dixon (2005) investigated the water savings
potential of rainwater harvesting system from large roof areas For this study, three cities were selected from the east coast of
in Sweden. They found that 30% of mains water savings can be New South Wales in Australia: Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong.
achieved from a 40 m3 tank if rainwater is used for toilet ushing One rainfall station with long record was selected from each of the
and washing machine. Roebuck and Ashley (2006) discussed the cities as shown in Table 1 and daily rainfall data were obtained
development of a computer based modelling and assessment tool from Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The study considers four
for rainwater harvesting system intended for domestic, commer- different usages of water from rainwater tank: (a) toilet ushing, (b)
cial, industrial and public buildings. They argued that many of the laundry, (c) hot water (shower, laundry and kitchen) and (d) out-
methods of rainwater tank analysis overestimated the hydraulic door irrigation. The adopted average water demand values for these
efciency and potential cost savings that could be achievable with usages are shown in Table 2, which were based on Sydney Water
rainwater tanks. recommended demand rates. Irrigation water demand varies with
Ghisi et al. (2007) investigated the water savings potential the season of the year, with 50%, 20%, 10% and 20% of total outdoor
from rainwater harvesting system in Brazil and found that average water use was assumed to be occurring in summer, autumn, winter
potential for potable water savings range from 12% to 79% per year and spring, respectively.
for the cities analysed. Ideal rainwater tank sizes for dwellings with Depending on the individual council requirements and prefer-
low potable water demand range from about 2 kL to 20 kL depend- ences of the owners, a multi-unit building would have different
ing on rainwater demand. For dwellings with high potable water features characterised by factors such as ratio of roof to site area,
demand, ideal rainwater tank sizes range from about 3 kL to 7 kL. oor levels and ratio of pervious to impervious areas. This study
The main conclusion drawn from the research was that the average assumes a multi-unit single storey residential building with the
potential for potable water savings in south-eastern Brazil is 41%. ratio of roof to site area of 0.5, a different ratio would affect the
They concluded that rainwater tank capacity has to be determined irrigation water usage and hence the efciency of a rainwater tank.
for each location and dwelling as it depends strongly on potable The roof/oor area of individual unit in a multi-unit single storey
water and rainwater demand. building would vary ranging from typically one bed room to three
Ghisi et al. (2009) evaluated the potential for potable water bed rooms units. It seems to be reasonable to assume that 1, 2 and 3
savings using rainwater for washing vehicles in petrol stations bed room units would have roof areas of 50 m2 , 75 m2 and 100 m2 ,
located in Brasilia in Brazil. They found that the average potential respectively, i.e. an average roof area of 75 m2 per unit assuming
for potable water savings using rainwater is 32%. Cheng and Liao that there would be equal numbers of 1, 2 and 3 bed room units in
(2009) presented a method of creating rainfall zones in northern the development. It also seems to be reasonable to assume that 1,
Taiwan based on standardised rainfall data which would enhance 2 and 3 bed room units on average would occupy 1, 3 and 4 per-
rainwater harvesting applications. Tam et al. (2010) investigated sons, respectively, which gives an average occupancy rate of 2.6
cost effectiveness on the use of rainwater tanks for Australian resi- persons per unit which is equivalent to about 30 m2 roof area per
dential environment. Seven cities were examined and it was found person. A different occupancy rate would produce a different water
that using rainwater would be an economical option for households savings rate from having the rainwater tank; however the assumed
in Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sydney. Khastagir and Jayasuriya (2010)
presented a novel methodology and a relationship for optimal siz-
ing of rainwater tanks for Melbourne city in Australia considering Table 2
Water usage rates for various purposes.
the annual rainfall at the geographic location, the demand for rain-
water, the roof area and the desired supply reliability. Imteaz et Water usage type Water usage rate
al. (2009) presented water savings from two large underground Toilet ushing 36 L per person per day
rainwater tanks in Melbourne city based on recorded daily rainfall Laundry 36 L per person per day
data and irrigation water use. They found that these tanks are quite Hot water 62 L per person per day
effective in savings water in wet, average and dry years. Outdoor irrigation 28 L per person per day
E. Eroksuz, A. Rahman / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 54 (2010) 14491452 1451

Fig. 1. Average annual water savings in a multi-unit single storey residential devel-
opment for various roof areas in Sydney.

occupancy rate would provide a reasonable result on water savings


from having rainwater tanks.

4. Method
Fig. 2. Average annual water savings in a multi-unit single storey residential devel-
In this study, a continuous simulation type water balance model opment (site area = 4000 m2 , roof area = 2000 m2 ).

was developed on a daily time step. The basic idea underlying the
model is that the rainfall falling on a roof area initially discharges to water savings increase with increasing roof area as expected; how-
a rst ush device and then to the rainwater tank. Water is drawn ever, this rate of increase is relatively higher for larger tank sizes as
from the rainwater tank for intended usages. If the water level in the evidenced by the increasing gradient of the individual curve (which
rainwater tank goes below a set minimum value, the tank is topped represents a particular tank size) with increasing tank size. For
up with mains water to keep a minimum volume of water in the smaller tanks increasing the roof area does not have as great an
tank, which was taken to be 5% of the tank volume in this study. effect as for larger tanks because for larger tanks the tank does not
When the rainwater tank is full, the excess rainwater entering into ll and overow as often as for smaller tanks. The rainwater that
the tank overows into the street drainage system. Ten different ows from the roof to the tank is more effectively collected and
tank sizes (10 kL, 20 kL, 30 kL, 40 kL, 50 kL, 60 kL, 70 kL, 80 kL, 90 kL used when the tank is larger.
and 100 kL) and ve different roof areas (500 m2 , 1000 m2 , 1500 m2 , A prediction equation was developed to estimate average annual
2000 m2 and 2500 m2 ) were considered. water savings in a multi-unit development project tted with rain-
water tanks in the three cities:
5. Results
log(W )= 6.309+0.779 log(A) + 0.318 log(T ) + 2.078 log(R) (1)
Fig. 1 shows average annual water savings resulting from a rain- where W is average annual water savings in kL, A is roof area in
water tank for various roof areas in Sydney which shows that for m2 , T is rainwater tank size in kL and R is average annual rainfall in
smaller roof areas, an increase in rainwater tank size does not mm. The equation has a coefcient of determination (R2 ) = 96% and
increase the water savings as much as for larger roof areas. For standard error of estimate of 2% of average annual water savings in
example, for roof area of 500 m2 , increase in tank size from 10 kL log domain. The equation is valid for Sydney, Newcastle and Wol-
to 50 kL results in an increase in average annual water savings by longong cities in New South Wales, Australia for roof areas in the
36%; however, for 1500 m2 roof area, the same tank size increment range of 5002500 m2 , an occupancy rate of 1 person for each 30 m2
results in an increase in annual water savings by 100%. This is due roof area and when rainwater is used for toilet ushing, laundry,
to the fact that for smaller roof area increasing the tank size does hot water and outdoor irrigation.
not have as great an effect as for larger roof area because for small To investigate the water savings potential from having a rain-
roof area the tank does not ll and overow as often as for larger water tank, a detailed analysis was undertaken for an example
roof area. Fig. 1 also shows that for a given tank size, average annual
Table 4
Table 3 Reliability of rainwater tanks, % of days when rainwater tank can provide all the
Annual water savings from rainwater tanks in a multi-unit single storey residential required water (site area = 4000 m2 , roof area = 2000 m2 ).
development in three different cities of New South Wales in Australia.
Tank size (kL) Average % of days in a year when no mains
Tank size (kL) Average annual mains water savings (%) top-up is required

Newcastle Sydney Wollongong Newcastle Sydney Wollongong

10 21 21 21 10 10 10 10
20 31 31 32 20 23 23 24
30 37 38 39 30 30 31 31
40 42 43 43 40 35 36 37
50 45 46 47 50 39 40 41
60 47 49 50 60 41 43 44
70 49 51 53 70 43 45 47
80 50 52 54 80 44 47 49
90 51 54 56 90 46 48 51
100 52 55 57 100 46 49 52
1452 E. Eroksuz, A. Rahman / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 54 (2010) 14491452

Table 5
Annual mains water savings in recent drought years (tank size 70 kL, Sydney).

Year Annual rainfall (mm) Average annual Ratio of annual Annual water Average annual Ratio of water
rainfall (mm) rainfall and average savings (kL) water savings (kL) savings
annual rainfall

2002 860 1204 0.71 1324 1852 0.70


2004 995 0.83 1525 0.82

development with a site area of 4000 m2 , roof area of 2000 m2 , out- tank size is more appropriate to maximise water savings in multi-
door irrigation area of 2000 m2 and 70 occupants (with 27 ats @ 2.6 unit building. Rainwater tanks can provide signicant water savings
persons per at). For this development, the average annual mains even in relatively dry years. It is also found that water savings in any
water savings for various tank sizes for the three cities are pre- given year from rainwater tanks have direct correspondence with
sented in Table 3 and Fig. 2 which show that Wollongong provides the annual rainfall of the corresponding year. A prediction equa-
highest water savings followed by Sydney and Newcastle. Gen- tion is developed which can be used to estimate average annual
erally, for this development, a 10 kL tank offers 21% mains water water savings from having a rainwater tank in a multi-unit sin-
savings and a 50 kL tank offers 45% mains water savings. Table 3 gle storey building in three Australian cities Sydney, Newcastle
also shows that for this example development project, a 40 kL tank and Wollongong under some assumptions on-site, tank and water
is required to achieve at least 40% mains water savings as required usage characteristics.
by BASIX.
Reliability of rainwater tank to provide all the required water Acknowledgements
(for toilet ushing, laundry, hot water and outdoor irrigation) was
examined in Table 4 which shows that 10 kL tank can provide all Authors would like to thank Bureau of Meteorology for provid-
the required water for only 10% of the days on average in a year. ing the daily rainfall data and Mr. Michael Jeffrey for his input to
For 70 kL tank size, rainwater tank is able to provide all the required the project.
water for about 50% of the days. Reliability, as dened here may not
have much signicance to most of the house owners because the
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