Harvested rainwater is an alternative water resource that can be utilized to help meet the world's growing demand for fresh water. Although harvested rainwater is often considered to have adequate physical and chemical qualities, its microbial quality has been found lacking. This study sought to better understand the effect of common treatment processes on the quality of harvested rainwater for potable use by examining two treatment processes: (1) batch chlorination followed by filtration, and (2) filtration followed by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. The batch chlorination studies used rainwater harvested from four pilot-scale roofs in Austin, Texas with different roofing materials: concrete tile, green, Galvalume[Trademark] metal, and asphalt-fiberglass shingle. Chlorine tends to react with natural organic matter and produce disinfection byproducts (e.g., trihalomethanes (THMs)) that are harmful to human health. Chlorinating rainwater harvested from the metal and concrete roofs achieved adequate disinfection (total coliforms less than 1 colony forming unit per 100 mL) without forming THMs that exceed the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) limit of 80 [mu]g/L for public water systems. Chlorinating rainwater harvested from the shingle roof achieved adequate disinfection but had the potential to form excessive THMs. Chlorinating rainwater harvested from the green roof, which had the highest concentration of dissolved organic carbon, did not achieve adequate disinfection and formed THMs that were four times higher than the USEPA limit. Filtering the chlorinated rainwater from every roofing material with a block activated carbon filter generally resulted in increased bacteria concentrations and decreased THM concentrations. To study the effect of UV irradiation, cistern-stored and treated rainwater were sampled from a full-scale residential system in Austin, Texas, where the owner uses rainwater as his primary potable water supply. UV irradiation at the full-scale system effectively disinfected rainwater when the turbidity and total coliform concentrations were low, but disinfection was compromised as these two parameters increased as the drought progressed in 2011 and the ambient temperature increased. This research suggests that under certain conditions, treatment by either chlorination or UV irradiation can improve the quality of harvested rainwater so that it conforms to drinking water standards for public water systems. / text

Yes / Water scarcity is a huge problem in Africa, and hence rainwater becomes a crucial water source for fulfilling basic human needs. However, less attention has been given by African countries to the effectiveness of common rainwater treatments to ensure the population's health. This study investigates the impact of different household treatment techniques (HHTTs), i.e. treatments by chlorine, boiling, alum, and a combination of alum and chlorine, on its storage system using a case study at the Ikorodu area of Lagos state, which is a rural area in Nigeria. The first-flush quality has been particularly studied here, where the microbial reduction through its practice has been examined from five different roofs. One of the investigated roofs was from a residential building, and four were constructed for the purpose of this study. In this study, the physical parameters (i.e. total suspended solids and turbidity) and the microbial parameters (i.e. total coliform and Escherichia coli) of the collected rainwater have been investigated. From the results, it has been observed that: (1) the water quality at the free phase zone is better than that at the tank's bottom; (2) the combination of chlorine and alum gives the best rainwater quality after comparing the application of different HHTTs; and (3) a reduction of about 40% from the original contaminant load occurs in every 1 mm diversion. / Hidden Histories of Environmental Science Grant Project (at Seed-grant Stage), funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Dricksvatten är vårt viktigaste livsmedel. I takt med klimatförändringarna kommer temperaturen öka och vädret bli mer extremt vilket gör vår tillgång till dricksvatten mer sårbar. Redan idag finns problem med dricksvattenförsörjningen i vissa delar av Sverige. Ett sätt att minska dricksvattenförbrukningen är att samla in regnvatten och använda det till processer med lägre kvalitetskrav än dricksvatten. Swedavia jobbar aktivt med att få mer miljövänliga flygplatser och som en del av detta minska dricksvattenförbrukningen. Detta projekt utreder möjligheten att samla upp regnvatten på takytor för att använda till processer som idag använder dricksvatten. Projektet är koncernövergripande och applicerbart på samtliga av Swedavias flygplatser även om arbetet utförs på Stockholm Arlanda Airport. I detta examensarbete har kvaliteten på vattnet från fem olika typer av tak studerats. Taken valdes bland annat utifrån tidigare utförda studier där föroreningsgraden på vattnet från olika sorters tak undersökts. Även faktorer som förekomst på flygplatserna spelade in. Provtagning utfördes vid två tillfällen där avrunnet regnvatten samlades in från de fem olika taken samt ett referensprov på rent regnvatten. Fem näringsämnen, löst organiskt material, suspenderat material och sex olika tungmetaller analyserades. Tre av taken gav så pass höga värden att de överskred satta gränsvärden. Det gröna taket gav höga halter fosfor och löst organiskt material. Taket med TRP-stål gav höga zinkhalter vilket tros bero på den zinkbeläggning som taket har. Taket med PVC-plastduk gav också höga zinkhalter vid en av provtagningarna, men inte lika höga som på TRP-ståltaket. Taken med FPO-plast, som är en mer miljövänlig plastduk, och taket med takpapp gav låga värden och överskred inte några satta gränsvärden. Referensprovet på regnvatten gav hög halt suspenderat material vid en av provtagningarna samt höga blyhalter som överskred gränsvärdena. Slutsatserna av detta projekt är att gröna tak, tak med TRP-stål och tak med PVC-plastduk riskerar att överskrida gränsvärden vilket gör att de lämpar sig sämre för uppsamling av regnvatten än de resterande taken. Resultatet baseras på de två provtagningar som utfördes vilket gör att fler provtagningar bör utföras för att kunna dra den definitiva slutsatsen att dessa tre typer av tak inte lämpar sig för detta ändamål. Taken med FPO-plast och takpapp överskrider inga gränsvärden och kan, utifrån de analyserade parametrarna, lämpa sig för uppsamling av regnvatten. Det är dock viktigt att poängtera att för att kunna återanvända vattnet och garantera att det håller en tillräckligt bra kvalitet behöver fler parametrar analyseras, något som inte kunde genomföras i detta projekt. / Drinking water is vital for our daily life. With climate change comes increasing temperatures and more extreme weather which can jeopardize our access to drinking water. One way to reduce our drinking water consumption is to collect rainwater and use it for processes which have lower quality demands than drinking water. Swedavia is constantly working on making their airports more environmentally friendly and as a part of this reducing the drinking water consumption. This project examines how water can be collected at Swedavia’s airports. The project results should be of intent to all of Swedavia’s airports even if the project is performed at Stockholm Arlanda Airport. In this project the water quality from five different types roofs has been studied. The different kind of roofs were chosen based on previous studies where pollutants in roof-harvested rainwater were studied. Other aspects such as location on the airports were also considered. Samplings were collected at two different occasions where water was collected from the different roofs. One sample of clean rainwater was collected as a reference. Five nutrients, dissolved organic matter, suspended matter and six heavy metals were analyzed. Three of the roofs gave water with high values that exceeded the quality limits. The samples from the green roof showed high levels of phosphorus and dissolved organic matter. The steel roof gave high levels of zink which may origin from its zink coating. The roof with PVC plastic also gave high levels of zink, but not as high as the steel roof. The roof with FPO plastic, a more environmentally friendly plastic, and the roof with roof paper gave low values and did not exceed any quality limits. The reference sample of clean rainwater gave high values of suspended matter at the second occasion and high values of lead that exceeded the quality limits. The conclusions of this project are that roof-harvested rainwater from green roofs, steel roofs and roofs with PVC plastic may exceed quality limits which makes them less suitable for collecting and re-use. The results are based on the two sampling occasions which means that sampling at more occations needs to be done to make definitive conclusions. The roofs with FPO plastic and roof paper do not exceed any quality limits and can therefore, according to the analyzed parameters, be suitable for collecting rainwater. It is important to note that to be able to reuse the water and guarantee that the quality of the water does not exceed any quality limits more parameters should be analyzed.

Yes / This paper presents a study to assess the roof-harvested rainwater (RHRW) in the Ikorodu area of Lagos state, Nigeria, and recommends guidance to minimise the health risk for its households. The types, design and use of rainwater harvesting systems have been evaluated in the study area to inspect the human risk of exposure to Escherichia coli (E. coli). To achieve these objectives, a detailed survey involving 125 households has been conducted which showed that 25% of them drink RHRW. Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) analysis has been used to quantify the risk of exposure to harmful E. coli from RHRW utilised as potable water, based on the ingestion of 2 L of rainwater per day per capita. Results have revealed that the maximum E. coli exposure risk from the consumption of RHRW, without application of any household water treatment technique (HHTTs) and with application of alum only, were 100 and 96 respectively, for the estimated number of infection risk per 10,000 exposed households per year. This estimation has been done based on 7% of E. coli as viable and harmful. Conclusively, it is necessary that a form of disinfectant be applied to the RHRW before use.