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Newsletter and Technical Publications

Rainwater Harvesting And Utilisation

An Environmentally Sound Approach for Sustainable
Urban Water Management: An Introductory Guide for Decision-Makers

In most urban areas, population is increasing rapidly and the issue of supplying adequate water to meet societal needs and to ensure equity in access to water is one of the most urgent and significant challenges faced by decision-makers.

With respect to the physical alternatives to fulfil sustainable management of freshwater, there are two solutions: finding alternate or additional water resources using conventional centralised approaches; or better utilising the limited amount of water resources available in a more efficient way. To date, much attention has been given to the first option and only limited attention has been given to optimising water management systems.
Among the various alternative technologies to augment freshwater resources, rainwater harvesting and utilisation is a decentralised, environmentally sound solution, which can avoid many environmental problems often caused in conventional large-scale projects using centralised approaches.

-- Table Of Contents --

1.
Introduction
2.
Why should rainwater harvesting and utilisation be promoted? - The need for environmentally sound solutions
3.
General description of the technology
4.
How can rainwater harvesting and utilisation contribute to a sustainable water strategy?
5.
What must be considered from quality and health aspects in utilising rainwater?
6.
What must be considered to design and maintain facilities for rainwater utilisation?
7.
What must be considered when selecting rainwater as a water supply source?
8.
What is necessary for promotion and further development of rainwater utilisation?
9.
Examples of rainwater harvesting and utilisation around the world
10.
Where to access information on rainwater harvesting and utilisation?
Bibliography
Profiles


  • Major Projects
  • DEBRI Project
  • DEBRI Project
  • Iraqi Marshlands Project
  • Iraqi Marshlands Project
  • IETC's Tools
  • Environmentally Sound Technology Information System
  • ESTIS facilitates creation and management of websites on the Internet, sharing and searching of information across multiple ESTIS websites, publishing of information by non-web designers and decentralized management of content.
  • WiseWater
  • WiseWater is a spreadsheet application for projecting reductions in Water Consumption Patterns after application of Environmentally Sound Technologies. It is included as part of the publication "Every Drop Counts: Environmentally Sound Technologies for Urban and Domestic Water Use Efficiency".
  • Pamolare
  • PAMOLARE is an environmental modelling tool to forecast the changes in water quality leading to the eutrophication of Lakes and Reservoirs.
    The versatility of PAMOLARE allows for its use in decision making process as well as for training purposes.