Journal Pre-proof

Suitability of Roof Harvested Rainwater for Potential Potable Water Production: A

Scoping Review

Mohammad A. Alim, Ataur Rahman, Zhong Tao, Bijan Samali, Muhammad M.

Khan, Shafiq Shirin

PII: S0959-6526(19)34096-X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119226
Reference: JCLP 119226

To appear in: Journal of Cleaner Production

Received Date: 19 July 2019

Accepted Date: 08 November 2019

Please cite this article as: Mohammad A. Alim, Ataur Rahman, Zhong Tao, Bijan Samali,
Muhammad M. Khan, Shafiq Shirin, Suitability of Roof Harvested Rainwater for Potential Potable
Water Production: A Scoping Review, Journal of Cleaner Production (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016
/j.jclepro.2019.119226

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the
addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive
version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it
is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article.
Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the
content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

© 2019 Published by Elsevier.

 Journal Pre-proof

Suitability of Roof Harvested Rainwater for Potential Potable Water

Production: A Scoping Review

Mohammad A Alim1, Ataur Rahman1, *, Zhong Tao1, Bijan Samali1, Muhammad M. Khan2 and
Shafiq Shirin2
1 Centre for Infrastructure Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics,
Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith NSW 2751, Australia
2 Halal Australia, Level 6 & 7, 91 Phillip Street, Parramatta 2150, Australia

*Corresponding author: Professor in Water Engineering

Western Sydney University, Australia
Office: XB248, Kingswood (Penrith Campus)
Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 179, Australia
Tel: +61-2-4736 0145
E-mail: a.rahman@westernsydney.edu.au

Page 1 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof

Abstract

The aim of the study was to devise a sustainable solution for drinking water supply in rural
communities at an affordable cost, which is specifically related to the two of the United Nation’s
Sustainable Development Goals: G3. Good health and well-being and G6. Clean water and sanitation.
In this regard, the objective of this scoping review is to evaluate the sustainability, in relation to
technical, financial and acceptability aspects, of a small-scale rainwater harvesting system to identify
whether it can fulfil the demand of drinking water at a household level in rural communities at an
affordable cost and in a sustainable manner. We have reviewed recent studies on rainwater harvesting
systems to investigate: i. whether a small scale system is economically and technically viable at rural
community level, ii. whether the quality of harvested rainwater meets drinking water standard, iii.
why rainwater harvesting system has not become mainstream water supply system as yet and iv. how
climate change can affect the reliability of a small scale rainwater harvesting system? It is found that
small scale roof connected rainwater harvesting system is likely to be economically and technically
feasible when certain steps and risk assessment procedures are followed in designing and maintaining
this system. It is also found that harvested rainwater needs robust treatment before human
consumption. The public perceptions, capital cost, lack of knowledge on rainwater harvesting system,
mix information about the quality of rainwater, risk associated with the system because of climate
change, degradation of stored water quality with time and in some cases inadequate policies obstruct
widespread adoption of rainwater harvesting technology. The world may see a dramatic change is
socio-economic development of many rural areas when a sustainable drinking water supply system
is established via a rainwater harvesting system.

Keywords

Drinking water; rainwater harvesting, water quality; economic feasibility; payback period; technical

feasibility

Page 2 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
Nomenclature

AMF Annual mean rainfall TC Total coliform

ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics TOC Total organic carbon

b/c Benefit-cost TTHM Total trihalomethane

DWASA Dhaka water supply and sewerage UV Ultraviolet

authority

EPA Environmental Protection Agency UN United Nation

E.coli Escherichia coli WBM Water balance model

HC WASH Water supply, sanitation,

High court
and hygiene

PCR Polymerase chain reaction YAS Yield-after-spillage

RWH Rainwater harvesting YBS Yield-before-spillage

PEER Partnerships for Enhanced

Engagement in Research

1. Introduction

It is claimed that the humankind is currently living at the pinnacle of civilisation; however, it

is also true that about one-fifth of the world population has no/limited access to clean drinking water,

even though the quantity required is as little as 5-10 litres per person per day. Many rural communities

across the globe face water scarcity despite they receive plenty of rainfall, which can be captured and

efficiently stored and locally treated using affordable and sustainable approached in meeting potable

water demand throughout the year. There has been little progress in supplying drinking water to rural

communities, which can make a real difference to the lives of millions of affected people.

Among all the public health issues, water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are perhaps

the most important matters that have substantial impact on socio-economic prosperity of a community

(Fewtrell et al., 2005; Ngure et al., 2014). We have witnessed the effectiveness of programs like

WASH in reducing the chronic intestinal infections that caused many children failing to grow

Page 3 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
adequately (Guerrant et al., 1992). Despite the fact that the current world is more technologically

advanced than ever before, a large portion of the world population is still struggling to have access to

clean water (Sorenson et al., 2011). The statistics published on the United Nation (UN)’s website

about drinking water crisis is appalling, which states that almost 2.1 billion people across the globe

do not have access to ample drinking water, whilst 340 000 children are diagnosed with diarrhoeal

diseases and 80% of wastewater is released to the environment untreated. It is also reported that

around 4.5 billion people are at risk of water-borne diseases because of poor sanitation system.

Though UN recognises water and sanitation as basic human rights, the provision of safe, acceptable

and affordable water to every individual is still a grand challenge. The UN Sustainable Development

Goals G6 ‘Clean Water and Sanitation’ aims to directly address this problem.

In many parts of the world, surface water is considered to be the source of primary drinking

water even though it is often heavily contaminated (Haritash et al., 2008; Schipper et al., 2008). The

unusual amount of disposal of untreated chemical waste from industries to the surface water bodies,

particularly in developing countries, has virtually killed stream ecosystem, and the water is now too

polluted to treat at an affordable cost for drinking purpose (Jayaswal et al., 2018).

As the treatment of polluted surface water is generally expensive, people have turned to

groundwater extraction to meet their drinking water demand at many locations around the world. The

dramatic change in recent patterns of precipitation and recharge of groundwater force us to rethink

about the strategies of water management (Famiglietti, 2014). The common attitude of tackling a

drought is drawing more groundwater and the consequences will include land subsidence, loss of

springs, sea water intrusion and environmental degradation (Macpherson, 2009; McDonald et al.,

2011). In addition, groundwater can also be polluted by sewage water, arsenic, insecticides, and

radioactive materials to make it unsuitable for drinking (Yang et al., 2016; Zhai et al., 2017).

As an example, a recent article in a national newspaper of Bangladesh (The Daily Star, 16

October 2018), reported that 75 million Bangladeshis are susceptible to serious water-related diseases

since they are drinking unsafe water in both rural and urban areas (Hashim, 2018). About 13% of

Page 4 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
them are drinking arsenic contaminated water while 41% including children are affected by harmful

bacteria (Joseph et al., 2018). Though 98% of the country’s population has access to the

technologically advanced water sources, 80% of them are polluted with E. coli which is responsible

for slowing down the physical growth of these children.

Having a closer look at the current situation of surface and groundwater contamination as

discussed above, it is reasonable to explore other sources of fresh water. One of the safest sources of

clean water is rainwater, which is fresh by very nature unless polluted via air-pollution and catching

surface. Despite rainwater harvesting (RWH) is an old technology, it has received renewed attention

in recent years, in particular, to save potable water in urban areas (Campisano et al., 2017; Cook et

al., 2013; Gurung and Sharma, 2014). Harvested rainwater is a renewable and sustainable source of

clean water that is ideal for most of the domestic and landscape uses.

In a RWH system, the household water saving is subjected to the amount of water harvested in

wet seasons (Abdulla and Al-Shareef, 2009; Ahsan et al., 2013; Hoque et al., 2004). For example,

Herrmann and Schmida (2000) reported that in Germany, installation of RWH system increased water

saving from 30% to 60% depending on the roof area. Coombes et al. (2000a) performed a similar

study in Australia and observed that 60% saving in drinking water could be achieved by implementing

RWH system. Most of the reports in RWH focused on how to save potable water from non-potable

usage in city and urban areas by using harvested rainwater. However, there is another important

dimension attracting little attention, which is, drinking water provision to rural areas from harvested

rainwater. RWH system can be a viable option to provide clean water to the people who do not have

the centralised water supply; however, there are number of challenges that need to be tackled before

a breakthrough can be made. Hence, the aim of this review is to explore the recent scientific papers

on RWH to investigate the viability of small scale system in rural areas in terms of quality and

quantity of water, reliability of the system, economic viability and technical ‘doability’.

Advancements, challenges and areas of future research on RWH system targeted for drinking water

Page 5 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
production are discussed extensively. Based on this review, possible sustainable solutions to the

drinking water problem using harvested rainwater is recommended.

2. Research Methodology

To undertake this review, we have followed a framework of scoping review recommended by

a number of researchers (Amos et al., 2018; Arksey and O'Malley, 2005; Mays et al., 2001). We have

chosen one of the models where investigators map the research in a specific field and identify research

gaps.

The first step is to formulate research questions, followed by the identification of keywords.

The thought process that proceeded in preparing this literature review included: ‘Can RWH system

meet the demand of drinking water of a single household or a small community in both wet and dry

seasons?’ If the answer of this primary question is ‘YES’ then the secondary question would be:

‘What might hold this technology from being implemented in many rural areas of the world where

the provision of drinking water is a big concern?’ However, if the answer of the primary research

question is ‘NO’ then the secondary question would be: ‘What are the challenges that need to

overcome to employ this technology to make it economically and technically feasible?’. A range of

additional questions have been asked to fully understand different aspects of the system such as:

I. Why a robust rainwater treatment system has not been integrated with small scale RWH

system yet?

II. Is it difficult to integrate and maintain the treatment unit with RWH system?

III. Which treatment method is suitable for small scale RWH system?

IV. Is it people’s attitude that preventing RWH system adaption?

V. Is it the capital cost obstructing RWH system adoption?

VI. Is it the aesthetic issue of the house that blocks the implementation of RWH system?

After defining the research questions, we identified relevant keywords for searching and

selecting the studies related to RWH system. The following keywords were used to locate articles

from the scientific databases: rainwater harvesting, remote water supply, rural water supply, water
Page 6 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
for remote communities, impact of climate change of rainwater harvesting system, quantity and

quality of harvested rainwater, rainwater treatment, rainwater as drinking water, economic feasibility

of rainwater harvesting, technical viability of rainwater harvesting, risk associated with both

rainwater quality and quantity, impact of surrounding on rainwater quality, effect of construction

material of catchments on rainwater quality and humanitarian engineering. The scientific databases

such as Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct and Google Scholar were used to search and gather

relevant publications. Next steps involved the selection of articles and formation of the data bank

with the selected articles. We have focused on small scale RWH system in terms of water quantity,

quality, economic analysis, doability and common challenges. There were more than 950 articles

popped up in our literature search; however, we selected only 168 articles based on our above-defined

criteria. The final step was analysis and comparison of accumulated findings and observations and

dissemination of the results in the form of a review article.

3. Scale of Water Supply

The scale of water supply systems can be categorised into three different groups based on the

number of people served by the system such as (i) large (more than 10,000), (ii) medium (2500 –

10,000) and (iii) small scale (less than 2500 people) (Lambert and Taylor, 2010). A mega-scale water

supply system is needed for megacities such as Sydney, London, Munich, New York, and Shanghai.

In many of these megacities, dams/reservoirs are built to collect and store surface runoff, which is

subsequently treated and supplied to the consumers (Sydney Water as an example). The capital cost

of this kind of scheme is extremely high; however, this is subsidized by the government generally,

and the water price is generally kept low as water is regarded as a basic need. A medium scale supply

system provides water to a relatively smaller town or village either by preserving rainwater or

extracting groundwater. Most of these establishments are owned by the local governments. A small

scale supply system usually refers to the construction of a small unit for an individual household or a

group of them. The sources of water may be groundwater or harvested rainwater, and the system is

Page 7 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
suitable for the people living outside or away from the water mains. An illustration of different types

of water supply systems including examples and sources is shown in Fig. 1.

Water Supply
System

Small Scale Medium Scale Large Scale

Individual Reservoir Examples

Examples
(Khulna Water Supply & Sewerage Hunter Water, Australia-
Present
study Authority, Bangladesh-Groundwater) Grahamstown Dam

Harvested Rainwater Extracted Groundwater by

Examples
(Roof, well, pond) Pump (Hand Driven & (Warragamba Dam, Oroville Dam, Queen
Electric) Elizabeth II Reservoir, Kielder Water,
Kaerumataike Dam and so on.

Fig. 1 Water supply systems including examples

As can be seen, small scale water supply sources include harvested rainwater and extracted

groundwater. This study only focuses on literature reports related to small scale supply systems where

the source is rainwater. We have investigated different arrangements of RWH systems to understand

their feasibility in fulfilling the demand of potable water of a household or a small community.

Rainwater harvesting starts with the collection of rainwater from house roofs or designated

catchment areas, followed by a first flush and screening to remove debris, insects and leaves. The

water is then collected in a rainwater tank which includes an overflow system in order to bypass

excess water during heavy rainfall events. Stored water can be used directly for non-potable usage

while a treatment system should be installed to produce drinking water. A schematic diagram of RWH

system which can be used as a potable water supply system in a household is shown in Fig. 2. The

proposed model is called gravity feed water supply system. In this model, we propose that rainwater

Page 8 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
tank is placed few meters above the ground and gravity pull the water in filtration chamber. The cost

for electricity to run a motor can be saved following this method.

Fig. 2 Gravity-feed small scale RWH system for potable water supply in an individual household.

4. Quantity of Harvested Rainwater

The success and failure of RWH system are highly related to the amount of water that can be

harvested from a collection area at a given location (Boers and Ben-Asher, 1982). Generated runoff,

which determines how much water is available for storage, depends on various factors such as

intensity of the rainfall event, duration of the event and loss characteristics (Todini, 1988).

The rainfall pattern varies from location to location, in particular in mountainous areas. For

instance, annual mean rainfalls (AMR) in Campbelltown and Hornsby are 743 mm and 1325 mm,

respectively, which are two suburbs, 50 km away from each other, in Sydney, Australia (Hajani and

Rahman, 2014). In Bangladesh, AMF in the northwest region is about 1329–1700 mm while in the

northeast the range is 4101–4338 mm (Bari et al., 2016). Lopes et al. (2016) investigated the

performance of RWH system in 60 cities within the Santa Catarina state of Brazil, and reported that

the rainfall trend in an area has a direct relation to the project cost. Cities with uniform rainfall require

smaller storage tanks, which reduces project cost significantly. The conclusion is in agreement with

Page 9 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
the findings of Khastagir and Jayasuriya (2010) who performed a similar study in Melbourne,

Australia.

The economic and technical feasibility of an RWH system depends on designing of an

optimum tank size which ensures about 100% reliability of the system as well as a benefit-cost (b/c)

ratio greater than one (Hall, 2013). Size of the rainwater tank can be determined by a water balance

model (WBM) using local metrological data (Hajani and Rahman, 2014; Rahman et al., 2007).

Factors that influence the model are duration of dry period, frequency of rainfall events, duration and

intensity of the event, available roof/catchment area, catchment material and water demand (Christian

Amos et al., 2016). WBMs can be of different time scales; however, daily or hourly time scale is the

most widely adopted scale (Maheepala et al., 2013; Soares Geraldi and Ghisi, 2018). Monthly WBM

was tested for life-cycle analysis of RWH system, and subsequently compared with the results

obtained from daily WBM to determine the optimum tank size (Devkota et al., 2013). It was reported

that monthly model resulted oversizing the tank and hence, a longer payback period. Hajani et al.

(2014) developed a WBM considering daily time step and found that yield was affected by the type

of behavioural model used in the analysis. They reported that the Yield-Before-Spillage (YBS) model

overestimated water saving by 10–15% compared to the Yield-After-Spillage (YAS) model. Fewkes

et al. (2000) recommended YAS to be used for designing purpose since the model is conservative in

nature. Fig. 3 presents a schematic diagram on the general relationship between the rainwater tank

size and several design parameters.

Page 10 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof

Fig. 3 Influence of rainwater tank size on different design parameters.

As can be seen, the storage tank size has profound effects on these design parameters. It is very

important to determine an optimum tank size using WBM to ensure sustainability and acceptability

of a RWH system. We have drawn an arbitrary line (dashed line in Fig. 3) to indicate the optimum

tank size which should be determined from WBM. The optimum tank size of a RWH can be defined

as the size that would supply the water with maximum reliability determined based on the available

roof area and the local weather condition. For example, if one considers to install the biggest rainwater

tank available in the market and he has small roof area, the tank will be empty to some extent most

of the time. This would cost him extra money without getting any benefit in return. One the other

hand, if one has small tank and big roof area, the tank will overflow many times and the system

reliability would be low. Furthermore, if one has decent size rainwater tank and roof area; however,

the rainfall in the region is too low/high, the reliability of the RWH system is going to be affected. It

is important to discuss the relation between tank size and many public interest. The aesthetic aspect

of a house is as important as other parameters. Consumers may not be attracted to the system if it is

too big since it would require much space and the maintenance is difficult. Nowadays, underdeck and

underground tanks are getting popularity compared to their counterparts due to the compact design.

Therefore, a sharp decline in public interest is projected if the tank size is too big; however, further

research is needed to shed more light on this. To optimise all these factors associated with a RWH

Page 11 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
system appropriately, a WBM based on local rainfall data is required. Influence of tank size on

different design parameters is further discussed in later sections.

4.1 Effect of Climate Change on the Reliability of the RWH System

Rapid urban development and economic growth have contributed to the climate change and

associated effects (e.g. urban flooding, polluted stormwater and heat island effects) which are the

major factors influencing the water demand and supply considerably (Elmahdi et al., 2009). Haque

et al. (2015) suggested that change in climate condition adversely impacted the catchment water yield

and water demand pattern in Australia. The altercation in natural phenomenon would continuously

influence the rate global warming, evapotranspiration and atmospheric water storages, which are the

important parameters that control rainfall behaviour (intensity, magnitude and frequency)

(Middelkoop et al., 2001; Musayev et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2015). In addition, climate change would

affect the length of dry period and geographical distribution of rainfall (Ma et al., 2008).

The reliability of a RWH system is greatly influenced by the rainfall pattern and duration of

dry period, and these parameters would vary with the climate change. The determination of optimum

tank size from WBM using local rainfall data without considering climate change effect would result

in an inadequate design (Basinger et al., 2010; Lo and Koralegedara, 2015; Wallace et al., 2015). The

uncertainty of future rainfall event in the context of climate change is a much needed parameter to be

considered in the WBM (Haque et al., 2015; Lo and Koralegedara, 2015; Wallace et al., 2015).

Musayev et al. (2018) assessed the potential of RWH system in terms of its reliability to the

domestic water security for major world climatic zones under a number of climate scenarios. Authors

used historical data from 94 sites to simulate synthetic daily rainfall in their model. The simulation

was run for up to year 2099 considering the downscaled outputs from 15 General Circulation Models

(GCM). It was found that the climate change would have insignificant impact on the reliability of the

RWH system.

Kisakye et al., (2018) reported the effect of climate change on the reliability of RWH system

in Kabarole district, Uganda. They used 20 years of daily rainfall data to develop the WBM. It was
Page 12 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
reported that the reliability of the system would increase in rainy seasons; however, in dry period, the

reliability could reduce to as high as 40% which would lead to a 27% reduction in water security in

the region.

Alamdari et al. (2018) investigated the effect of climate change on the reliability of RWH

system in the U. S. The reliability was assessed in terms of the proportion of water demand met and

the amount of captured runoff that was stored and reused. The RWH model was developed for 17

locations across the U.S. using the historical daily rainfall data between years 1971–1998 assuming

in future (2041–2068), the greenhouse gas emissions would be “medium-high”. It was reported that

in some places, the runoff capture might decrease to as low as 12% while the water supply reliability

would fall to 18%. However, it was also estimated that parts of the regions would experience a lift in

the reliability as high as 22% in terms of water supply.

Zhang et al. (2018) investigated the effects of climate change on the reliability of RWH systems

in three different cities of China. The WBMs were developed for individual toilet flushing and

irrigation of lawn and combined demand. It was reported that the weather pattern would be as

commonly described “dry gets drier, wet gets wetter”. For dry regions, it was suggested that the tank

size should be bigger to accommodate climate change impact. Similar observations were reported for

other regions (Zhang et al., 2019).

Based on the above findings, it can be argued that the effects of climate change on the reliability

of a RWH system vary significantly with the location. It would not be a beneficial approach to install

a physical RWH system based on an existing WBM that was not developed for that particular

location. Also, in literature, a range of downscaled approaches were used to get forecasted future

rainfall, which might have an impact on the modelling outcomes. It is important to develop a sound

methodology on how to incorporate the climate change effect in the WBM. The literature on this

topic is rather limited and requires further investigations.

Page 13 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
5. Quality of Harvested Rainwater

Rainwater is considered naturally quite clean; however, the collecting surface always

introduces contaminations such as sediments, pathogen, metals, organic matters and volatile organic

compounds. The common sources of contaminations include birds and insects (Chidamba and

Korsten, 2015; Fewtrell and Kay, 2007), dust by atmospheric deposition (Lye, 2002; Thomas et al.,

2016) and heavy metals in the roof materials (Mendez et al., 2011; Thomas et al., 2016). The quality

of harvested rainwater largely depends on the surrounding environment, e.g. nearby large trees or

industry. There are other factors that affect the water quality such as, the level of maintenance of the

system and storage time (Ahmed et al., 2011; Farreny et al., 2011; Islam et al., 2010a). Table 1

presents a summary of the studies on the quality of harvested rainwater.

Page 14 of 56
1 Table 1 Summary of studies on harvested rainwater quality
Reference Location Catchment material Tank material Water quality Tests Remarks
 Harvested water was stored for 4
 Higher pH value (8.1 to 8.3) months and subsequently tested
 Unacceptable water colour Physical,
Islam et al., Dhaka, Non-toxic waterproof quality. Outcomes are in
Ferro-cement after 4 months chemical and
2010b Bangladesh cloth agreement with findings by Vialle
 Coliform was found in stored microbiological
et al. (2011) that quality
water after 3 months deteriorates with storage time
Fuentes- Guanajuato, Visual
 Odour and colour were  Harvested water requires
Galván et al., Sheet metal, concrete Ferro-cement inspection,
Mexico detected in the reserved water treatment before consumption
2018 physical
Zinc–aluminium
 Water requires filtration prior to
alloy steel (Site 1),
Van Der Western Zinc–aluminium alloy Physical, potable usage
polyester (Site 2),  E.coli was found in all of the
Sterren et al., Sydney, steel (Site 1, 3 and 4), chemical and  Public education on RWH system
concrete (Site 3), tank water
2013 Australia concrete tile (Site 2) microbiological is required to remove many
galvanized iron (Site
misconceptions
4)

 No trace of total coliform

(TC)  Chlorinated rainwater (2 mg/L of
Conventional roof
 The concentration of total residual chlorine) and/or rainwater
materials (Concrete tile,
trihalomethane (TTHM) was passed through an activated
metal, and asphalt–
lower than the recommended carbon filter resulted in high
Keithley et al., fiberglass shingle)
level by US Environmental Microbiological quality potable water
2018
Protection Agency (EPA)

 TCs were detected  Greenery is not recommended

Green roof  TTHM concentration level when the roof is going to be used
was 3 – 5 times higher than for rainwater harvesting
the recommended level.
 Real-time Polymerase chain
Conventional roof reaction (PCR) method is more
Southeast  63% contaminated with E.
Ahmed et al., materials (Concrete tile, efficient, precise and quick than
Queensland, coli Microbiological
2008 metal, and asphalt– conventional faecal indicator test
Australia
fiberglass shingle) in determining microbial quality
of water
Newcastle,  Lead was detected in the Physical,  Pathogenic bacteria can be
Coombes et New South Concrete, plastic and water chemical and eliminated quickly by heating
al., 2005 Wales, corrugated iron  Water from all sources were microbiological water at 60˚C or greater
Australia contaminated with E. coli

Page 15 of 56
  Results from coliform indicator
tests can be misleading (PCR
method was recommended)

 31% of rainwater samples  Improved microbial quality was

were contaminated with TCs Physical, observed in winter
Despins et al., Ontario, Steel, asphalt shingle
Plastic and concrete  Low quality water was chemical and
2009 Canada and flat membrane  Water quality significantly
obtained from asphalt shingle microbiological
influenced by catchment material
catchment
 TCs and E. coli were detected  Water passed through physical
South- in most of the samples Physical, filter and activated carbon filter
Vialle et al., Polyethylene high-
western Concrete tile  Turbidity and colour do not chemical and before use
2011 density (PEHD)
France meet the drinking water microbiological
 Water quality was poor in summer
quality standard
 40.8% of the samples had pH
value outside the
recommended range of  Roof material affected the water
Auckland, Water was collected drinking water Physical,
Simmons et Galvanised iron (most of quality
New from cold water  14.4% was contaminated with chemical and
al., 2001 the catchments)  Harvested rainwater needs
Zealand faucet randomly lead microbiological
treatment
 56% did not meet
microbiological quality
standard

Page 16 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
3 The debate on the use of harvested rainwater for drinking with or without treatment is largely

4 unresolved. Dillaha and Zolan (1985) reported that roof-harvested rainwater could be used for

5 drinking and other household purposes directly although a prior treatment was recommended but not

6 mandatory. However, this idea has been debunked by many studies, which are discussed elaborately

7 later in this section. Therefore, the quality of the harvested rainwater needs to be examined carefully

8 before it can be recommended for human consumption.

9 Van Der Sterren et al. (2013) conducted a yearlong study on the quality of roof harvested

10 rainwater in Western Sydney region, Australia for three tanks. They found that the quality was

11 substantially influenced by the materials used for the construction of tanks and roofs. E.coli was

12 detected in water from all the tanks and the contamination level exceeded the safe limit (1 cfu/100

13 mL) recommended in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (NHMRC, 2011).

14 Keithley et al. (2018) conducted a pilot study on the effect of treatment on the harvested

15 rainwater quality. They collected rainwater from four types of roofs made of conventional materials

16 (concrete, metal and asphalt–fiberglass) and green roof. The study found that chlorinated-unfiltered

17 water from traditional roofs was free from total coliforms (TCs) and the concentration level of total

18 trihalomethane (TTHM) was under the recommended limit by the Environmental Protection Agency

19 (EPA). However, TCs were detected in water collected from green roof and TTHM level was 3 – 5

20 times higher than the recommended level.

21 Ahmed et al. (2008) studied the quality of roof-harvested rainwater in Southeast Queensland,

22 Australia. They examined 27 samples collected from several houses in 18 different suburbs in

23 Brisbane, and found that 63% of the rainwater was contaminated with E. coli and 89% of them were

24 contaminated with Bacteroides (16S rRNA gene).

25 One of the leading research groups in the field of rainwater harvesting led by Coombes studied

26 the quality of harvested rainwater over a decade at the University of Newcastle in Australia (Coombes

27 et al., 2005). They found E. coli in all harvested rainwater and the level of contamination was well

28 above the Australian drinking standard. They also investigated the effect of biofilm on the water

Page 17 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
29 quality and observed that the development of biofilms on the inner surface of water tank had a

30 substantial impact on the water quality (Coombes et al., 2005). This finding was similar to that of

31 Van der Sterren et al. (2013).

32 Despins et al. (2009) investigated the quality of harvested rainwater in Ontario, Canada. They

33 collected 360 samples from 7 sites in the City of Guelph to test the physical, chemical and microbial

34 qualities. The samples were collected concurrently from rainwater tank and point of use. It was

35 reported that the catchment system impacted the water quality. For example, turbidity was 40% higher

36 for water samples collected from asphalt shingle than steel catchments. They also observed that the

37 storage material influenced the pH value of the stored water. The minimum pH was found 4.8 for the

38 water stored in a plastic tank while the maximum was 10.2 for the samples collected from a concrete

39 tank. There were noticeable changes in turbidity, colour and total organic carbon (TOC) based on the

40 rainwater tank materials used. Similar findings were reported by Mendez et al. (2011).

41 Vialle et al. (2011) examined the physicochemical and microbial qualities of harvested

42 rainwater in the southwestern region of France. They scanned 55 samples and found TCs and E.coli

43 higher than the recommended level in most of them. It was also reported that turbidity and colour

44 were higher than the French drinking water quality standard. It was also revealed that the quality of

45 stored water deteriorated with time. In addition to all these studies, investigation on the quality of

46 roof-harvested rainwater was undertaken in different parts of the world and reached similar

47 conclusions (Simmons et al., 2001; Tsakovski et al., 2010; Zunckel et al., 2003).

48 Islam et al. (2010b) performed a study on the quality and feasibility of rainwater harvesting for

49 Dhaka city, Bangladesh, since the city was facing drinking water scarcity despite having plenty of

50 rainfall during monsoon. They concluded that the system is feasible and has the potential to become

51 one of the potable water supply sources for the city. However, it was also reported that the water

52 needs treatment to remove biological contamination before using for cooking and drinking purposes.

53 Furthermore, the study found that the quality of stored water deteriorated with time. It was suggested

Page 18 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
54 that the effect of storage material on water quality had to be determined. In contrast, this study did

55 not include an economic analysis to examine the economic viability of the system.

56 Recently, Al-Batsh et al. (2019) assessed the water quality of harvester rainwater in Yatta area,

57 Palestine – a project funded by Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program

58 and implemented by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. They concluded that though the

59 physiochemical quality of the water met national standard of drinking water, 52% of the collected

60 water was contaminated by faecal and 99% by total coliforms. It was also highlighted that

61 consumption of this water without any treatment might lead to serious health issues.

62 Last but not the least, the adverse effect of long-term usage of chlorinated water on health

63 needs to be taken into consideration. It is often believed that chlorination of water and the presence

64 of residual chlorine in water keep the water clean from the point of production to the point of human

65 consumption. However, some chlorinated organic compounds may be carcinogenic and have adverse

66 effect on health. For example, Morris (1995) studied the carcinogenesis risk of using chlorinated

67 water for drinking. He reported that consumption of chlorinated water may have a positive association

68 with bladder and rectal cancer. It was suggested that the use of combined disinfectants such as

69 chlorine and ammonia or disinfection by ultraviolet (UV) might help reducing chlorine concentration

70 which would reduce the side effects of chlorination.

71 Summary

72 The above mentioned results are important to assess the quality of rainwater and the subsequent

73 use for drinking purpose. It has been well established that the harvested rainwater requires treatment

74 prior to human consumption and the level of treatment depends on the geological location of the

75 system. In almost every cases, the common roof dwellers such as mice, possum and birds and

76 surrounding environment, particularly tree litters, are the common source of microbial contamination.

77 Deposition of organic and inorganic matters in dry season on the roof surface are the source of

78 chemical and physical contaminations. The materials used for roof construction and rainwater tank

79 have notable influence on the water quality. Presence of bio-film helps reducing the metal

Page 19 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
80 contaminants. If one is considering to construct a green roof, rainwater harvesting using that roof as

81 catchment might not be a good idea since the microbial contamination would increase substantially.

82 Maximising sun exposure and regular cleaning of the roof surface would reduce the microbial

83 contamination considerably. Treated water must be preserved with appropriated disinfectants to

84 reduce the risk of water quality degradation over time. The health risk associated with of the poor

85 rainwater quality and the necessary interventions that would reduce the risk is presented in discussion

86 section.

87 6. Economic Feasibility

88 Water saving is one of the important factors that determines the overall economic benefit of

89 RWH system. This parameter is substantially influenced by local rainfall, water demand, types of

90 catchment (i.e. construction materials, surroundings and size) and tank size (Akter and Ahmed, 2015).

91 Adaption of RWH system contributes to the economic benefit in two different ways: (i) reduce water

92 demand from mains, and (ii) decrease the amount of stormwater that might need additional drainage

93 system to manage (Mahmoud et al., 2014; Sample David et al., 2013). Table 2 includes a summary

94 of the studies on the economic benefit of small scale RWH system.

95

Page 20 of 56
96

97 Table 2 Summary of studies on economic benefits of RWH system.

Payback period
Reference Location Project detail Remarks
(years)
 Water was collected from rooftop and manoeuvring yard
 Water balance model was developed based on 100%  Rainwater alone can meet the water demand of the
López Zavala reliability company
Mexico 5
et al., 2018  Annual water demand was 2608 kL  Benefit-investment ratio is 1.9
 Low-density polyethylene was used to construct the storage  Anthracite-sand filter was used to treat the water
tank

 Rainfall data, water consumption, material cost, electricity

cost were used to analyse roof area, potable water demand,  Netuno computer programme was used to estimate
tank size, payback time and system reliability tank size
Ghisi and  For high water demand, system payback time is lower  Setting up two tanks contributes to extra
Schondermark  Different catchment size was considered to determine its installation cost
Brazil 1.5 – 10
, 2013; Ghisi effect on water saving
et al., 2018  RWH system model had been developed considering 5  Significant water saving, up to 50%, was found for
individual would fulfil their water demand from the system higher demand
 Water demand was 150 and 300 L/person/day
 Two rainwater tanks were considered for each household

 Individual and community-owned RWH systems were

analysed  Payback period is not convincing
 Payback period was calculated for high and low water price  Storage tank size contributed the most to the total
Domènech and
Spain scenario 21 – 61 cost
Saurí, 2011
 Effect of tank size was determined  Economic benefit can be seen in community
 The model was developed for the demand of non-potable owned RWH system
usage of water

Page 21 of 56
  A daily water balance model was used to determine the  The system reliability is 30 – 40%
system reliability  The investigation did not include the cost related to
Bashar et al.,  Effect of tank size on system reliability was determined water treatment
Bangladesh 2–6
2018  Separate analyses were made for wet, average and dry  Operational cost was considered BDT 1500 (~
climate conditions US$ 18) which may be too lenient
 Water and monetary savings were estimated  500 to 800 kL water can be saved annually

 System reliability for Kenya is 30 – 65% while for

 Leading author visited Kenya for investigation and Australia is 99%
gathering first-hand data  Integrated systems are advantageous
Christian 25 (Kenya)
Australia and  Parameters such as water price, life cycle of the system and  Standardised method for economic analysis is
Amos et al.,
Kenya material cost have a substantial influence on estimation. 42 (Australia) required
2016
Therefore, changes in these types of parameters with time  Water cost for a Kenyan individual is more than
need to be considered in the analysis. that of an Australian (if per capita income is taken
into consideration)

 Performance of RWH system in a peri-urban area of greater

Sydney was investigated  99% reliability can be achieved by installing a 5-
 The model had been developed for non-potable water kL tank
Hajani and demand  0.97 b/c ratio was reported
Australia
Rahman, 2014  Different tank size was tested to determine optimum b/c  Small scale RWH system is feasible
ratio  Filtration was not included in the analysis as the
 Water balance simulation model was developed in system focused on non-potable water usage
FORTRAN to perform the analysis

 Duration of dry period influenced the system

 Optimal design of RWH system was investigated for 46 behaviour substantially
sites in Europe
Palla et al.,  Cold and humid weather regime showed maximum
European  A behavioural model was implemented in order to study
2012; Ward et 6 – 11 quantitative performance since the rainfall events
territory system performance
al., 2012 were more frequent
 The model was tested for different environmental and
storage conditions  Oversizing is one of the issues for long payback
period
98

Page 22 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof

99 López Zavala et al. (2018) investigated the economic benefit of RWH system of a

100 transportation logistics company situated in Mexico City. They reported that 100% water demand can

101 be met by harvesting rainwater. The payback period is estimated 5 years and the b/c ratio is 1.9.

102 Harvested water is treated before usage. Findings are in agreement with a report published for RWH

103 system in North-eastern Mexico (López Zavala et al., 2016).

104 Ghisi et al. (2013) investigated the economic feasibility of RWH system in 5 cities of Brazil.

105 They found that the payback period lied between 1.5–10 years which is reasonable. A number of

106 studies also found similar results (Carvalho, 2010; Ghisi and Ferreira, 2007). However, da Cruz and

107 Blanco (2017) and Ghisi and de Oliveira (2007) also conducted similar analyses for other parts of

108 Brazil where they obtained payback period between 25 – 250 years. Domènech et al. (2011)

109 considered two types of RWH system, individual and community, in the metropolitan area of

110 Barcelona, Spain and analysed economic performance of the systems. They also conducted a survey

111 on the people’s perception about adopting a RWH system. Though the findings on payback period of

112 21 – 61 years are not convincing technically, the general public have a positive attitude towards RWH

113 system for its long-term benefit to the society. It is also found that government subsidies and proper

114 regulation can promote the use of this technology. The non-realistic Fig. of payback period can be

115 attributed to the local rainfall pattern and duration of dry period. Regions with longer dry period

116 requires bigger tank to obtain high system reliability which ultimately leads to higher construction

117 cost.

118 Bashar et al. (2018) studied the viability of RWH system in coastal and arsenic affected areas

119 of Bangladesh in terms of reliability and economic benefit. They reported that the system payback

120 period was 2–6 years which seems economically viable. However, the system reliability was only

121 30–40% which was probably the result of an inappropriate RWH system model that was used to

122 design the system. Further study using updated metrological data is required to develop a proper

123 model that can give 100% reliability. Karim (2010) also reported the economic feasibility of RWH

Page 23 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
124 system in Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh, and agreed with Coombes and Kuczera’s (2003)

125 statement that an RWH system with a lifetime more than 15 years is beneficial.

126 Amos at al. (2016) reviewed the economic situation of RWH system in Australia and Kenya.

127 They raised concerns about the economic analysis methods used by different researchers to estimate

128 the payback period. There are conflicting reports about the feasibility of RWH system, and a

129 standardised method of payback period estimation is needed to make a valid comparison. It was also

130 highlighted that integrated systems were more beneficial compared to an individual one. A similar

131 conclusion has been made elsewhere (Morales-Pinzón et al., 2012; Mwenge Kahinda et al., 2007;

132 Ward et al., 2012).

133 Hajani et al. (2014) performed an economic feasibility analysis of RWH system in Greater

134 Sydney, Australia. The authors selected 10 different locations and used their metrological data to

135 develop a water balance model using FORTRAN. A 5-kL rainwater tank was found to be the optimum

136 choice with 99% reliability among 8 different sizes of rainwater tanks that were tested in their

137 analysis. The study also indicated that with a bigger storage tank, 100% water saving is possible, but

138 the system would become economically infeasible. It is also indicated that system reliability and

139 performance substantially are influenced by the duration of dry period in the region. More studies on

140 RWH system in Australia and its economic viability are available (Imteaz et al., 2011; Rahman et al.,

141 2012; Tam et al., 2010).

142 Palla et al. (2012) studied the effect of climate conditions on the performance of RWH system

143 in Europe. They examined the impact of different hydrologic variables on the system performance to

144 determine key performance-related parameters that influence the optimal design. Dry weather period

145 was identified as the primary hydrological parameter that affects the system behaviour the most. Other

146 studies of the economic feasibility of RWH system in European countries are available (Roebuck et

147 al., 2011; Ward et al., 2012).

148 Hofman-Caris et al. (2019) conducted a study on the economic feasibility of rainwater

149 harvesting system in cities (interconnected RWH system) as well as rural areas (individual RWH

Page 24 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
150 system) in the Netherlands. The study considered that the harvested water required a robust water

151 treatment process to improve the quality to make it drinkable. In the discussion section, the

152 comparison of water quality in the Netherlands, across Europe and Malaysia was presented. It was

153 revealed that water that was considered drinkable in Malaysia might not fulfil the criteria of drinking

154 water in the Netherlands. It was also reported that based on the Netherland’s climatology data, small

155 scale RWH system was not economically feasible in rural areas (for individual household) while in

156 the city areas (interconnected system), the instalment might be comparatively reasonable. Costs

157 related to material, labour and treatment were too high to make the system economically viable in the

158 rural areas. It was also identified that harvesting rainwater did not really contribute to the

159 environmental benefit (< 1%) which many people thought is one of the advantages of the system. In

160 addition, harvested water can only supply 50% of the demands in cities.

161 Summary

162 There are conflicting opinions on the economic feasibility of a RWH system. It can be argued

163 that not having specific guidelines for economic analysis resulted in the contradictory results. In most

164 cases, RWH system was found to be economically feasible for small scale usage, though literature

165 reports on this type of system are not too many. The main hydrologic parameter that affects the system

166 behaviour is the duration of dry periods in that region which is vulnerable to the climate change.

167 Oversizing RWH system is one of the main reasons for project failure due to increased cost and this

168 happens when inappropriate WBM is followed for designing such as using monthly rainfall data

169 instead of daily. Based on the current literature it can be argued that RWH system is viable for both

170 developed and developing countries despite the difference in per capita income. However, with the

171 current literature reports, it is very difficult to completely understand which of the two systems,

172 individual and community-owned, has more advantages. Moreover, research on economic feasibility

173 of small scale RWH system for potable water supply in developing countries is nearly non-existent.

Page 25 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
174 7. Technical Doability

175 This section discusses technical doability of RWH system in the context of developed and

176 developing countries. In this study, technical doability represents overcoming the problem related to

177 rainfall and water-demand-timing in dry season. A RWH system is technically feasible when the

178 water supply is greater than the demand (Bank, 1990). Before we start an extensive discussion on

179 technical doability of RWH system, a summary of advantages of this system irrespective of geological

180 location is given below:

181  The system is not too expensive and easy to maintain;

182  An individual or community-based system can be developed. Small scale business of water

183 supply to neighbouring houses is possible by utilising overflow water in the case of a big

184 rainfall event.

185  Rainwater harvesting can save a significant amount of money for the government by

186 reducing demands from mains and less quantity of stormwater to manage.

187  Many cities in Bangladesh suffer from intermittent water supply where they have access to

188 the supply water either in the early morning or in the late afternoon and hence they have to

189 store the water within the household (Akbar et al., 2007). Also, many people are drinking

190 arsenic contaminated groundwater (Smith et al., 2000). Rainwater harvesting may

191 overcome those problems since the country receives a decent amount of rainfall every year

192 (Shahid, 2010).

193  Drinking water quality from rainwater can easily be achieved with minimum cost

194 (Coombes et al., 2000b; Spinks et al., 2003).

195  Rainwater harvesting system integrated with mains enhances the system performance and

196 reliability.

197 In developed countries, many policies have been established over time to promote adoption of

198 RWH system to achieve intended water savings (Zhang et al., 2015). The result was seen in

199 Queensland, Australia, where the water saving target was achieved by installing RWH system before

Page 26 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
200 the mandated time (Taylor, 2011). According to López Zavala et al. (2018), despite having a

201 considerable capital cost related to storage tank, accessories, filtration and maintenance, RWH system

202 is economically and technically viable in Brazil.

203 Berlin, Germany has been considered the pioneer city in implementing RWH system which is

204 part of their policy to become a sustainable city since 1980. They have lost the status recently to

205 Australia, Brazil and the USA (Brown et al., 2013; Meehan and Moore, 2014). More than 1,643

206 projects including large and small scale ones have been funded since 1983 to make RWH system

207 mainstream (Reichmann, 2009) in Berlin. However, many of these projects consistently failed to

208 become the central system and remained as a demonstration model. Soler et al. (2018) studied around

209 200 of these projects to understand why RWH system has not been established as it was supposed to

210 be. They concluded that the projects were technically feasible; however, lack of knowledge

211 dissemination, perception of the risk of new technology and desire of local people to connect with

212 the traditional network were the primary reasons for RWH system adaption failure. It was also argued

213 that studies on rainwater harvesting were mainly conducted for city areas while systems in rural and

214 peri-urban areas were rarely investigated. This caused a huge knowledge gap and ultimately people

215 living outside the city did not show interest in RWH system.

216 Jensen (2008) performed a technical feasibility analysis of RWH system in the metropolitan

217 area of Salt Lake City, USA using annual rainfall data and local water demand. The author concluded

218 that in a single-family household, utilisation of 41% of the total area for rainfall capture could meet

219 75% of the total water demand. It was also reported that an optimum tank size was crucial for

220 feasibility, and the daily water balance model must be used for design. Therefore, it can be argued

221 that technical feasibility has never been an issue in developed countries (Christian Amos et al., 2016;

222 Sekar and Randhir, 2007; Silva et al., 2015).

223 In many developing countries, RWH system has positively contributed to the water and food

224 crisis recognised in a number of studies (Anandh and Vinoth, 2018; Chong et al., 2011; Helmreich

225 and Horn, 2009). It is also evident that some governments provide funding in rainwater harvesting

Page 27 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
226 projects to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (Binagwaho and Sachs, 2005). However, in

227 some developing countries, private RWH system is considered illegal (Mwenge Kahinda et al., 2007)

228 and the idea is not encouraged or financially supported (Woltersdorf et al., 2014) by the government.

229 Islam et al. (2011) correctly indicated that technical feasibility of a system in a third world country

230 like Bangladesh not only depends on the demand and supply but also skills of local people, income,

231 materials, labour and accessibility to proper equipment. Many projects fail because of lack of

232 experience, unprofessional contractors, repetitive mistakes and incorrect designing, plumbing and

233 surveying. A similar observation was reported elsewhere for other countries (Fisher and Hohnen,

234 2012). Nonetheless, not all the stories are negative for developing countries. There are many

235 exemplary works that have been performed in Malaysia (Asman et al., 2017; Lee et al., 2016),

236 Thailand (Areerachakul, 2013; Visvanathan et al., 2015; Wirojanagud and Vanvarothorn, 1990),

237 India (Meter et al., 2014; Vishwanath, 2001), Nigeria (Imteaz et al., 2012; Ishaku et al., 2012), and

238 Zimbabwe (Kahinda et al., 2007; Kahinda and Taigbenu, 2011) which showed promising outcomes.

239 The positive results can be attributed to the social behaviour of local people towards new technology,

240 public education, skill availability, awareness about water scarcity, financial support by the

241 government and the availability of materials and equipment.

242 8. Design Guidelines of RWH System

243 Widespread acceptance of RWH system needs a significant change in planning, design,

244 management and operation of water supply systems (Jensen, 2008). Besides, social interaction

245 between general public and technical personnel has to happen to spread the knowledge of new

246 technology which will help in making a right decision on RWH system adoption. There are numerous

247 studies including books (Hatibu et al., 2001; Lancaster and Marshall, 2008; Pacey and Cullis, 1986),

248 research articles (Jha et al., 2014; Mbilinyi et al., 2007), technical reports (Australia, 2014) and

249 web/online information (BlueMountainCo) on what are the parameters that need to be taken into

250 consideration when selecting a RWH system. It is not only an exhaustive work to go through all these

251 materials but also confusing to choose from different options. Therefore, it is an urgent need to set up
Page 28 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
252 a guideline even for how to select a RWH system in a specific area, which should be simple to follow.

253 In this study, we have examined a number of reports and proposed a 3-step simple framework that

254 requires minimum technical knowledge as illustrated in Fig. 4.

255

256
257 Fig.4 Necessary steps involved in planning, designing and construction of an RWH system
258 (Aladenola and Adeboye, 2010; Nolde, 2007; Rahman et al., 2012).

259 Step 1 involves acquiring input data and selection of an appropriate model to design the RWH

260 system. Daily rainfall data for a considerable period of time can be obtained from local metrological

261 stations and water demand data can be obtained from water bill. Daily water balance model is the

262 most accurate method and the details can be found in many studies (Imteaz et al., 2017; Imteaz et al.,

263 2011; Rahman et al., 2012). Once the optimal rainwater tank size has been determined, the installation

264 site can be selected.

265 Step 2 is more technical and very important for the project feasibility. In this stage, quotations

266 for construction are gathered and a b/c ratio is determined. It is always expected that the reliability of

267 the system is 100% and b/c ratio greater than one.

Page 29 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
268 Finally, in the last step, a technical report is prepared including all the required details, such as

269 the payback period, b/c ratio, capacity, reliability, water saving and life cycle assessment. This paper

270 could guide the selection of an optimum RWH system.

271 9. Challenges

272 The discussion in Sections 4–7 supports installation of small scale RWH system. However, for

273 widespread acceptance, there are a number of challenges that have to be addressed. First of all,

274 dissemination of new technologies is often delayed due to uncertainties that consumers feel

275 uncomfortable as a result of lack of knowledge about the development (Perry et al., 2001). Therefore,

276 public education about RWH system is necessary particularly in developing countries (Fuentes-

277 Galván et al., 2018; Ibrahim, 2009; Islam et al., 2010b).

278 Economic analysis in the majority of cases is found to be positive, but urban as well as rural

279 people are still reluctant to adopt this technology since they have low confidence in water saving and

280 payback period of the initial investment (Bashar et al., 2018). This is because there are conflicting

281 findings about these parameters in the literature (Domènech and Saurí, 2011; Ghisi and

282 Schondermark, 2013; Ghisi et al., 2018). This inconsistency has arisen as a result of different methods

283 used for the analyses. A universal guideline for economic analysis is required to clarify the situation.

284 There are a few other issues such as identification of the catchment size to harvest adequate water,

285 quality of stored water, contamination of water from reservoir material and system sustainability,

286 which need further research.

287 Demerits of rainwater harvesting are (i) requirement of space for installing storage reservoir

288 and (ii) less amount of mineral salts (such as sodium, potassium and fluoride) in rainwater. Although

289 the problem associated with low mineral contents can be solved by adding them, space requirement

290 in a densely populated city such as Dhaka, Bangladesh is a major obstacle for implementation of

291 RWH system (Islam et al., 2010b). Proper design and installation of underground tanks may solve

292 the issue; however, the associated cost may be an issue unless cheaper underground storage can be

293 built.
Page 30 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
294 The next challenge is the establishment of specific guidelines for both drinking and non-potable

295 uses of harvested rainwater. In this regard, a separate guideline for drinking water should be

296 established for a given region. Lack of information related to the presence and risk of microbial and

297 chemical pollutants in collected rainwater and management of these types of risk also contributes to

298 the fear of people (Ahmed et al., 2008; Simmons et al., 2001). It is pretty clear that harvested rainwater

299 requires treatment prior to human consumption (Gikas and Tsihrintzis, 2012; Lee et al., 2012; Van

300 Der Sterren et al., 2013). In addition, there are very few studies on the economic and technical

301 feasibility of small scale RWH system which is devoted to the provision of drinking water at

302 individual household scale.

303 10. Discussion

304 RWH is an ancient practice; however, recently the technology has gained notable attention

305 since the water demand in urban areas has increased significantly. Moreover, in wet season, the

306 management of stormwater becomes challenging due to increased runoff volume. Therefore, the

307 mainstream research on RWH has focused on how harvested rainwater can be used for non-potable

308 purposes (e.g. toilet flushing and gardening) to reduce the demand of potable water in urban areas as

309 well as reduction of runoff quantity in urban stormwater management (Ghisi, 2006).

310 There is an important aspect of RWH, which has been largely ignored, that is RWH for drinking

311 purpose in peri-urban and rural areas where central water supply system is often non-existent. Soler

312 et al. (2018) stated that in Germany, RWH system did not succeed because of the fact that much

313 attention was given into city areas where they already had a centralised system, whereas what

314 happened in rural areas had not even been reported. This review has been undertaken to fill this

315 research gap by locating research on RWH for drinking purpose in rural areas and subsequently

316 identifying whether RWH systems are sustainable in terms of quantity and quality of water as well

317 as the economic and technical feasibility.

318 It is true that rainwater harvesting for drinking purpose is not suitable for many regions,

319 particularly in cities since they already have centralised systems for drinking water supply; however,
Page 31 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
320 it is also true that in many places, especially in developing countries, rainwater is one of the vital

321 sources of drinking water. Recently, the sixth biggest city of India, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, has faced

322 one of the worst water crisis where taps running dry and at least 10 million people were affected

323 (Writers, 2019). People left the city and businesses such as restaurants were shut down because of

324 water shortage which largely impacted the local economy. In Bangladesh, people living in coastal

325 areas such as Koyra are facing the greatest challenge of lifetime which is lack of supply of drinking

326 water. The surface water and the groundwater in the region are so saline that the villagers started

327 drinking ponds’ water. With climate change, the rainfall pattern has been altered and evaporation has

328 been increased. In dry season, they have to walk 5 – 10 km to get access to the water. Children and

329 young people leaving schools and colleges to collect water. The whole socio-economic system would

330 collapse soon if proper initiatives have not been taken (Abedin and Shaw, 2013). The innovation of

331 this paper is to find a proper solution for drinking water supply system that can remove the hurdle of

332 these societies with an affordable cost – such an example is RWH system. With proper treatment and

333 disinfection methods in place, the harvested rainwater may be converted into drinking water that can

334 not only improve the quality of life of people living in those areas but also accelerate the local socio-

335 economic development. The viability of small scale RWH system, which would produce drinking

336 water, in terms of quality, quantity and economic feasibility has been assessed based on current

337 literature reports. We have also presented a risk analysis (Table 3) of RWH system in terms of

338 reliability in the context of climate change and quality that pause a health risk. The controls that can

339 reduce those risks significantly are included in the table.

340 Whenever drinking water becomes the topic of discussion, the first point that pops up

341 immediately is the water quality. Table 1 summarises reports on quality of harvested rainwater in

342 different regions of the world. It is apparent that harvested rainwater cannot be used for drinking

343 purpose unless the water is treated adequately. To our surprise, people living in rural Australia

344 consume harvested rainwater without any treatment despite the warning about the danger of drinking

345 untreated rainwater by the state health departments (Van Der Sterren et al., 2013). The sources of

Page 32 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
346 contamination in rainwater are discussed in this review. It is revealed that concrete roof tile introduces

347 minimum amount of impurities into rainwater while greenery on the roof causes TC contamination

348 (Keithley et al., 2018). Furthermore, odour and colour of harvested rainwater deteriorate with time

349 (Islam et al., 2010b). Contamination from tank material, evaporation loss and optimum water volume

350 that is needed for adequate first flush are important aspects to determine the sustainability of a RWH

351 system. However, there is not enough information on these issues in the current literature. Table 3

352 represents the risk assessment of a RWH system in terms of the reliability of the system influenced

353 by the climate change and the health risk caused by poor water quality related to geolocation and

354 insufficient treatment.

Page 33 of 56
355

356 Table 3 Risk assessment of a RWH system for drinking water purpose in terms of quantity and quality.

Risk score Risk score

– before – after

Consequence

Consequence
Likelihood

Likelihood
Criterion Hazard – the source of potential harm Interventions

Reliability – The RWH system reliability mainly depends on the WBM should be developed based on historical rainfall

Unlikely
rainfall pattern and duration of dry period. It is highly likely that the data as well as change in rainfall pattern in future.

Likely

Minor
Major
Effect of climate
rainfall pattern will change dramatically in future due to climate There are studies that predicts the effect of climate
change
change (Haque et al., 2016; Lo and Koralegedara, 2015; Wallace et change on rainfall pattern, which may be used in the
al., 2015). WBM model (Evans et al., 2014; Wallace et al., 2015).
 Regular maintenance of the roof and gutter
hygiene, removing unwanted tree branches
hanging over the roof area, reducing structures that
invites animals for a congregation and installation
of bird spikes may decrease the contamination
level (Ahmed et al., 2010b).
Health risk – it is highly likely to get infected with diseases when

Almost certain
untreated rainwater is consumed (Ahmed et al., 2010a). Rainwater  Disinfection of rainwater before consumption by
chlorination, UV radiation, boiling or any other

Minor
Major
Microbial may contaminate with bacteria and pathogens by surrounding trees,

Rare
contamination animal droppings on the roof/catchment, aerosol deposition, gradual form (Ahmed et al., 2019; Ahmed et al., 2018).
growth of biofilms and sediments (Ahmed et al., 2014; Hamilton et  Cleaning the roof/catchment just before the rainfall
al., 2019). event is more effective in reducing the
contamination level substantially.
 First 2mm rainfall can be used for first flush to
clean the surface adequately (Kus et al., 2010).
 Good amount of sun exposure on the roof surface
may kill considerable amount of microorganisms.

Page 34 of 56
 Health risk – rainwater may contaminate even before the raindrop
falls on the roof top. At the beginning of a rainfall event, the
raindrops come in contact with many chemical and physical
pollutants that are present in the atmosphere. The level of  Controlling the method of pesticide use.
contamination depends on the geolocation. For example, if it is an  Cleaning the roof after a dry period.
industrial area or a region where pesticides are aerially sprayed, the  Avoiding use of lead in any part of construction.

Possible
contamination level might exceed the drinking water guideline

Minor
Major
Chemical  Avoiding use of paint on the roof.

Rare
contamination level.  Installing a water treatment unit when the water is
The water may contaminate with the materials used for roof meant to be used for drinking such as slow sand
construction, fittings and storage tank. For instance, a lead coated filtration.
roof or rainwater tank or any other fittings may increase the lead  Installing a first flush device.
contamination level to an unacceptable limit. The use of acrylic
paint and bitumen-based material is highly susceptible for chemical
contamination and distort the taste.
Health risk – the deposition of organic and inorganic contaminants
including heavy metals on the roof surface is a common scenario in  Instalment of screens and filters which will prevent
urban and industrial regions. Sometimes the air quality in these debris entering into the tank. Many contaminants
areas is too bad to keep the roof runoff safe for drinking (Abbasi et are stuck with the debris.
al., 2009).  Cleaning the roof surface after a long dry period

Possible

Minor
Major
Physical

Rare
If coloured terracotta /cement-based tiles are used for roof which will remove many depositions.
contamination
construction, the coatings may oxidise over time because of natural  Cleaning the rainwater regularly – at least two
weathering and wash off with roof runoff, which may affect the times in a year.
colour of the water. Though they will settle at the bottom of the  Installation of first flush (first 2 mm rain).
rainwater tank, they may reappear after rain with stirring up by the  Slow sand filtering of water before drinking.
water coming to the tank (Abbasi and Abbasi, 2011).
 Use of disinfection while storing such as
chlorination of water. The treated water may be
Quality Health risk – the harvested rainwater requires treatment before stored with appropriate dose of residual chlorine

Possible
human consumption. It is reported that the quality of stored

Minor
Major
degradation of which can kill the microbial organisms in case they

Rare
stored water over rainwater deteriorates with time (Islam et al., 2010b). Therfore, it is reappear.
important to store the filtered water properly that keeps the water safe for
time drinking all the time, particularly in dry season.  Use of lime stone in filtering process to control the
pH of the water.
 Using leachproof lining in the storage container.
357

Page 35 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
358 As we can see from Table 3, there are a range of factors that have to take into consideration to

359 ensure the reliability of the RWH system and reducing the health risk associated with the quality of

360 harvested rainwater. Since the reliability of the RWH system is greatly influenced by the local rainfall

361 pattern, the effect of climate change on weather pattern has to be taken into account while developing

362 WBM (Haque et al., 2016). The future weather pattern based on climate change can be predicted as

363 reported by Evans et al. (2014). Including the rainfall data from the study to the WBM might improve

364 the reliability of the RWH system. In addition, there are a number health risks related to the drinking

365 of untreated rainwater because the water may be contaminated with microbial organisms and organic

366 and inorganic matters including heavy metals (Ahmed et al., 2014; Hamilton et al., 2019; Ahmed et

367 al., 2010b). Proper interventions such as first flush, screening, slow sand filtration, using

368 disinfectants, bird spikes, removing tree branches hanging one on the roof and regular cleaning of the

369 roof surface might improve the water quality substantially (Hamilton et al., 2019; Ahmed et al.,

370 2010b; Abbasi and Abbasi, 2011). People may consider storing treated water for future use. The

371 quality of water may deteriorate over time (Islam et al., 2010b). Appropriate dose of disinfectants

372 such as chlorination (presence of residual chlorine in the treated water) would reduce the risk

373 markedly. We have also shown the risk score of different hazards before and after the intervention in

374 Table 3 where major being the high health risk while minor represents minimum risk.

375 The next concern is the economic viability of the RWH system including water treatment.

376 There are conflicting findings on the viability of RWH system to be used for drinking water supply

377 in rural areas. Sustainability of a RWH system depends on a number of factors such as amount of

378 rainfall, duration of dry periods, water demand, water treatment cost and the size of the catchment

379 area. A recent report claimed that individual RWH system was not a viable option for drinking water

380 supply in the rural areas of the Netherlands (Hofman-Caris et al., 2019). Costs related to construction,

381 material and water treatment were too high to make the system economically sustainable. However,

382 in this study it was assumed that a robust water treatment system must be incorporated with the main

383 RWH system to make rainwater drinkable which was, of course, costly. The assumption was based

Page 36 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
384 on a study performed in the USA where UV disinfection method was used for water purification (Kim

385 et al., 2016). As we can see the advantages and disadvantages of UV filtration in Table 4, UV filtered

386 water must be used immediately after filtration. Authors’ findings coincided with the theory as they

387 detected microbial contamination in distributed water, which was examined after sometime passed

388 from the time of filtration. In contrast, if a combination of simple filtration (sand and activated carbon)

389 and chlorination disinfection was implemented, the cost of the system would have been reduced and

390 the water quality might intact for longer period since residual chlorine would protect the water from

391 subsequent microbial contamination. Therefore, selection of appropriate filtration and disinfection is

392 important. We have listed what different filtration and disinfection systems can and cannot do in

393 Table 4. The conclusion of Kim et al. (2016) would have been different if a proper treatment

394 procedure was followed instead of assuming robust water treatment system. Also, the assumption that

395 the contamination in the Netherlands was similar to that of the USA was not appropriate in our view

396 as contamination level in rainwater is affected by local land use and climate characteristics. Another

397 recent study on RWH for drinking purpose in rural areas of Palestine found that rainwater could

398 become a potential source of potable water if a simple filtration system such as a sand filter can be

399 incorporated with the system. The values of other physiochemical properties of harvested rainwater

400 in this area were found below the maximum allowable limit.

401 We have discussed several issues that are affecting wider adaption of small scale RWH system

402 as a source of drinking water supply in Section 9, ‘Challenges’. To discuss the issue further, we

403 formulated a number of research questions on adoption of RWH system and looked into the literature

404 to find the answers. The discussion may help to understand why people are not adopting the

405 technology in mass scale (questions are in italic form).

406 I. Why simple treatment system has not been integrated with small scale RWH system?

407 First of all, in city areas, small scale or individual RWH system is used to meet non-potable

408 water demand (toilet flushing, car washing and gardening) since drinking water is obtained from

409 mains (Steffen et al., 2013). In rural areas, the common perception is that rainwater is naturally clean

Page 37 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
410 (Van Der Sterren et al., 2013), but in reality this is not the case (Gikas and Tsihrintzis, 2012; Lee et

411 al., 2012; Van Der Sterren et al., 2013). It is important to let people know that some form of treatment

412 is necessary.

413 II. Is it difficult to integrate and maintain the treatment unit with RWH system?

414 Rainwater requires minimum treatment if the roof catchment is well maintained. A number of

415 studies suggested that activated carbon and sand filtration could produce good quality drinking water

416 from RWH system and the process does not require heavy engineering and maintenance (Keithley et

417 al., 2018; Vialle et al., 2011).

418 III. Which treatment method is suitable for small scale RWH system?

419 There are three types of treatment processes that are well known, such as filtration, UV

420 disinfection and chlorine disinfection. The subcategories of these processes and what they can and

421 cannot do are summarised in Table 4.

422 Table 4 Different water treatment methods and their capabilities (NSW-Health).
Treatment
Subcategory Merit Demerit
method
 Cannot remove viruses
 Can improve microbiological and
 Performance varies with time,
Sand filter physiochemical qualities
presence of oxygen and temperature
effectively
 Comparatively large area required
 Can remove Fe and H2S
Activated
 Can improve taste  Does not remove bacteria and viruses
carbon filter
 Can remove odours and colours
Filtration
 Expensive
 Highly effective in removing
Reverse  Require additional draining
microorganisms as well as leftover
osmosis filter arrangements and power supply
chemicals in water
 Pre-filtration required

Membrane  May not remove viruses

 Can remove bacteria and sediment
filter
 Highly effective in removing
UV
bacteria, viruses and protozoa
disinfection
 Requires less maintenance
 Highly effective for the removal of
Chlorination bacteria, viruses and Giardia
disinfection  Residual chlorine can protect the
water quality for a longer period
 Pre-filtration required
 Require special design to apply an
appropriate dosage of UV light
 Pre-filtration required for effective
light penetration
 Power supply required
 Water must be used right after the
treatment
 Long term consumption of
chlorinated water may pose a health
risk (Morris, 1995)
 Hard to determine an appropriate
dosage

Page 38 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
 Even if less amount of by-products
 Very little effect on the taste of
are produced, they are susceptible to
water
Ozonation be a carcinogen
 Kills bacteria, parasites and other
disinfection  No residual effect. Treated water
harmful pathogens
should be consumed right after the
 Produce less chemical by-products
treatment

423 Selection of appropriate treatment process depends on a number of factors such as water

424 demand, geographical location, household income and possible contaminants that have to be removed

425 from the water (Hamann Jr et al., 1990). Based on literature review, it can be argued that a

426 combination of sand filtration and chlorination may improve water quality and storage period of

427 harvested rainwater at an economical cost.

428 IV. Is it people’s attitude that preventing RWH system adaption?

429 Local people’s attitude may be the primary reason that is inhibiting RWH system adaption.

430 Soler et al. (2018) revealed that in Berlin, which was once considered the pioneer of RWH system

431 technology, the system failed to become mainstream just because the local people did not feel to be

432 disconnected from the traditional centralised water system. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

433 also found a similar trend in Melbourne, Australia where 47% of the inhabitants showed

434 unwillingness to the adoption of this technology (Rahman et al., 2012).

435 V. Is it the capital cost obstructing RWH system adaption?

436 In developing countries, cost is identified as the most sensitive factor that is slowing down the

437 implementation of RWH system. As reported by Islam et al. (2011), 48.1% of the population of Dhaka

438 city is very sensitive to the capital cost involved in the construction of the system. In developed

439 countries, risk associated with new technologies holds back the propagation of RWH system. There

440 are contradictory reports about the economic feasibility of RWH system (Carvalho, 2010; da Cruz

441 and Blanco, 2017; Ghisi and de Oliveira, 2007) which needs further investigation to make this

442 technology acceptable to the public. Moreover, it is also found that help from the government is

443 available in some areas to get people interested as long as there is a suitable plan (Barthwal et al.,

444 2014; Ghisi and Ferreira, 2007). Finally, utilisation of a proper water balance model to determine the

Page 39 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
445 optimum tank size is necessary otherwise oversizing may happen, which ultimately increases the

446 project cost as suggested by Ward et al. (2012).

447 VI. Is it the aesthetic issue of the house that blocks the implementation of RWH system?

448 Aesthetic issue is a common concern among house owners who are potential customers of

449 rainwater tanks. Installation of a big tank is not always pleasing. The issue has to be taken seriously

450 into consideration when designing a RWH system (Khastagir and Jayasuriya, 2010). Recently, a new

451 design has been proposed where fence can be built to contain water.

452 As we can see that quality and technical feasibility have never been the issues for not choosing

453 RWH system, but, the fear of capital cost, lack of knowledge and aesthetics are among the factors

454 that are obstructing this technology to propagate widely. Moreover, some people hold the attitude that

455 rainwater is pure because their forefathers lived a long life drinking this water without having much

456 health problem. Therefore, public education on rainwater, its quality and its prospective use is very

457 important to eradicate this type of misconceptions. If one considers incorporating a simple filtration

458 system with RWH system, which would probably cost him/her a tiny fraction of the capital cost, in

459 most cases, the filtered water would be safe for drinking. The fact that people do not know this

460 information and the scientific community has not been successful to prove that this system would

461 work.

462 The final point that requires discussion is the report on payback period which is summarised

463 in Table 2. The range of payback period, 1.5 – 61 years, reported in the literature seems awkward

464 from a non-academic perspective. However, one should know that rainfall is a natural process and its

465 variability is too high from region to region (Christian Amos et al., 2016). Based on the results

466 represented in Table 2, it is reasonable to say that a RWH system viable for one region may

467 completely not be viable for others. The cost of the system mainly depends on the price of the

468 rainwater tank and the associate plumbing cost. The storage capacity of the tank needs to be

469 determined using the distribution of local rainfall data and duration of dry period. The optimum sizing

470 of the storage tank, which basically the amount of water needs to be stored for dry period, is the most

Page 40 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
471 important factor in designing a RWH system. Many project failed because of oversizing the rainwater

472 tank (Ward et al., 2012). Therefore, one has to be very careful in developing the water balance model

473 to determine the adequate tank size for a given application. Choice of time series (daily and monthly

474 rainfall and water demand data) in water balance model has an impact on the system economic

475 performance (Hajani et al., 2014).

476 To design and construct an effective RWH system, we have proposed a step-by-step process

477 discussed in Section 8 (Fig. 4). The triumph of this article depends on how successfully the

478 information is transferred to the reader who can recognise the potential of this technology to become

479 a source of drinking water supply in rural areas and how much motivation this article would inject in

480 reader’s mind to implement this system independently. It is believed that development of proper water

481 balance model and selection of appropriate water treatment and disinfection methods using Table 4

482 would turn a RWH system into a potable water supply source. However, pilot projects showing that

483 the proposed RWH systems would work will be the cornerstone of its success.

484 11. Rainwater for the sustainability of water supply system

485 The freshwater resources are depleting and getting polluted with an unprecedented pace which

486 is threatening for the sustainable development and human and ecosystem health. The situation is

487 directly related to the two of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (G3. Good health and well-

488 being; G6. Clean water and sanitation). The water scarcity would not only impact the health

489 negatively but also limit the economic and social development (Wanjiru and Xia, 2018).

490 For urbanised cities, the sustainability of urban water supply is always a big concern that

491 motivates researchers to think about the use of rainwater and recycled water (Furumai, 2008). There

492 is an urgent need to consider various innovative strategies to fulfil the current and future water

493 demand in small as well as mega cities. To deal with the issue, it is very important to understand the

494 concept of sustainable water use.

495 At present, the natural water cycle is stressed such as irregularity in river flow, ecosystem

496 deterioration and spring water shortage. To ensure sustainability, it is required to have a long-term
Page 41 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
497 water supply system with acceptable quality which would minimise the economic, ecological, social

498 and health risks. Sustainable water use is related to a number of factors such as participation of local

499 people, technological development and establishing adequate policies/regulations (Teston et al.,

500 2018).

501 RWH system is one of the alternatives that could contribute to the reduction of sustainability

502 risk by offsetting parts of the water demand (Gomes et al., 2012). Recently, the focus is to store and

503 use rainwater for non-potable purposes. However, based on this review, it can be argued that

504 rainwater can also be used as a source of drinking water when proper treatment procedure is followed.

505 12. Conclusions

506 Access to clean drinkable water is a basic human right and production of drinking water from

507 rainwater is likely to be a sustainable approach if certain steps are taken. In many city and urban areas,

508 massive infrastructures such as dams/reservoirs have been constructed to collect and treat catchment

509 generated rainwater to make it drinkable. All these projects were heavily subsidised which resulted

510 in low price of water. However, the demand for water kept growing and the idea of individual

511 rainwater storage system saw a re-birth. The intention of this storage is to reduce the potable water

512 demand from mains in urban areas, and this has been predominantly the research area on RWH for

513 decades. In addition, implementation of RWH system to the production of drinking water with

514 appropriate engineering innovation would reduce the energy consumption that is otherwise requires

515 to run a centralised system. There is a potential to contribute to the cleaner production by adopting

516 RWH system.

517 In this study, we have explored the sustainability of small scale RWH system in terms of

518 quantity and quality of water, economic feasibility and technical doability. Majority of the times, the

519 RWH system was found to be sustainable when certain procedures are followed. In most cases,

520 payback period of a RWH system was below 15 years, and choice of water balance model influences

521 this parameter significantly. The risk assessment of the harvested rainwater in terms of quality and

Page 42 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
522 system reliability has been presented. It can be argued that with appropriate measures, the health risk

523 with drinking harvested rainwater can substantially be minimised.

524 The acceptability of RWH system mainly depends on the capital, maintenance and operating

525 costs of the system. There are a number of factors that increase the system cost considerably such as,

526 oversizing the storage tank, incorrect choice of filtration and disinfection methods and local materials

527 and plumbing costs. It has been documented that proper choice of time series data (for rainfall and

528 water demand) in water balance model and appropriate selection of treatment method would reduce

529 the associated cost significantly.

530 The barriers of wider adaption of the RWH systems include delusion about filtration cost, local

531 people’s attitude, lack of knowledge on rainwater and its prospective use, aesthetic aspect and lack

532 of awareness about sustainable development and personal health and hygiene. The fear of filtration

533 cost is legitimate since rural people are not provided the information that a simple effective filtration

534 system can make the water drinkable. Public education can remove misconceptions about the

535 technology and change the local people’s behaviour towards new ideas. Arrangement of government

536 subsidies and incentives can encourage local people to adopt RWH system. In developing countries,

537 NGO’s might construct the RWH system and ask its consumers to repay by instalments, which would

538 have substantial impact on the socio-economic status of the region. Aesthetic issue is important to

539 most of the people and this can be tackled by a number of ways such as installing series of slim tanks

540 along the fence or back of the house and construction of a series of smaller underground tanks.

541 Finally, the step-by-step selection criteria proposed in this research may be followed to increase RWH

542 system’ overall performance.

543 13. Future Research

544 To make RWH system sustainable, there are a number of hurdles that have to overcome such

545 as concerns about the quality of harvested rainwater and its degradation over time, effect of tank

546 material on water quality, planning and design guidelines, public perception and knowledge

547 dissemination, policy change, subsidies and incentives and people attitude towards new developments
Page 43 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
548 in RWH system. The economic sustainability of gravity-feed filtration system over pump-feed system

549 would be an interesting topic to look at. The quality control of harvested rainwater within the

550 affordable limit is still a challenge. Furthermore, there are limited studies on the effect of climate

551 change on the reliability of the RWH system.

552 The comparative studies of different RWH technologies in terms of their performances and

553 adaptability are lacking in the literature. Many of the reports on RWH systems are numerical

554 modelling; however, actual experimental results are required in order to improve and update

555 regulations and design guides. Very few studies reported the risk posed by opportunistic pathogens

556 which is directly related to the human health. The connection between RWH system and the urban

557 stormwater management is not well documented which can be a potential research direction. The

558 performance of localised RWH system has been investigated extensively; however, the impact at

559 regional scale in developed areas has not received much attention. This has to be tested for different

560 countries with different climatic conditions.

561 The success and effectiveness of RWH system depend on the factors like regular maintenance

562 and selection of appropriate technology, which could assure the quality of water and safety for the

563 user. In future, it is expected that the maintenance should be taken into consideration in modelling.

564 Research should be performed on how to encourage maintenance by the system owners.

565 Economic payback time of the RWH system seems to be far off from the acceptable limit.

566 Nonetheless, primary and secondary benefits should be included in the analysis such as drinking water

567 conservation/saving and retention capability to reduce urban flooding. All these aspects require

568 further research which would ultimately lead our society towards cleaner water produced by an

569 affordable technology. Meanwhile, seminars, trainings, workshops, public lectures, media

570 propagation, pilot RWH systems and more school projects should be organised to promote RWH

571 system. Above all, a sense of urgency needs to be established to build a sustainable water provision

572 system for future generation. It is surprising that many rural people in Australia still drink harvested

573 rainwater without any formal treatment. The RWH system can easily be integrated with a gravity-fed

Page 44 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
574 sand filtration system (Fig. 2) and semi-automatic chlorination method to make harvested rainwater

575 meeting the drinking water standards. However, further targeted researches are needed to make it a

576 sustainable reality.

577 Acknowledgements

578 The authors would like to thank Halal Australia NSW Pty Ltd for their financial support in

579 performing this research on RWH system at Western Sydney University (WSU), Australia. The

580 support from the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering at WSU is also greatly appreciated.

Page 45 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
References

Abbasi, T., Abbasi, S.A., 2011. Sources of pollution in rooftop rainwater harvesting systems and their
control. Critical Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol. 41(23), 2097-2167.
Abbasi, T., Kannadasan, T., Abbasi, S., 2009. A study of the impact of acid rain on chromium toxicity.
Int. J. Environ. Stud. 66(6), 765-771.
Abdulla, F.A., Al-Shareef, A.W., 2009. Roof rainwater harvesting systems for household water
supply in Jordan. Desalination 243(1-3), 195-207.
Abedin, M.A., Shaw, R., 2013. Safe water adaptability for salinity, arsenic and drought risks in
southwest of Bangladesh. Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy 4(2), 62-82.
Ahmed, W., Brandes, H., Gyawali, P., Sidhu, J.P.S., Toze, S., 2014. Opportunistic pathogens in roof-
captured rainwater samples, determined using quantitative PCR. Water Res. 53, 361-369.
Ahmed, W., Goonetilleke, A., Gardner, T., 2010a. Implications of faecal indicator bacteria for the
microbiological assessment of roof-harvested rainwater quality in Southeast Queensland,
Australia. Canadian J. Microbio. 56(6), 471-479.
Ahmed, W., Hamilton, K., Toze, S., Cook, S., Page, D., 2019. A review on microbial contaminants
in stormwater runoff and outfalls: Potential health risks and mitigation strategies. Sci. Total
Environ..
Ahmed, W., Hamilton, K., Toze, S., Haas, C., 2018. Seasonal abundance of fecal indicators and
opportunistic pathogens in roof-harvested rainwater tanks. Open Health Data 5(1).
Ahmed, W., Vieritz, A., Goonetilleke, A., Gardner, T., 2010b. Health risk from the use of roof-
harvested rainwater in Southeast Queensland, Australia, as potable or nonpotable water,
determined using quantitative microbial risk assessment. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 76(22),
7382-7391.
Ahmed, W., Gardner, T., Toze, S., 2011. Microbiological quality of roof-harvested rainwater and
health risks: A review. J. Environ. Qual. 40(1), 13-21.
Ahmed, W., Huygens, F., Goonetilleke, A., Gardner, T., 2008. Real-time PCR detection of
pathogenic microorganisms in roof-harvested rainwater in Southeast Queensland, Australia.
J. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74(17), 5490-5496.
Ahsan, A., Rahman, A., Shanableh, A., Nik Daud, N.N., Mohammed, T.A., Mabrouk, A.N.A., 2013.
Life cycle cost analysis of a sustainable solar water distillation technique. Desalina. Water
Treat. 51(40-42), 7412-7419.
Akbar, H.D., Minnery, J.R., van Horen, B., Smith, P., 2007. Community water supply for the urban
poor in developing countries: The case of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Habitat Int. 31(1), 24-35.
Akter, A., Ahmed, S., 2015. Potentiality of rainwater harvesting for an urban community in
Bangladesh. J. Hydro. 528, 84-93.
Al-Batsh, N., Al-Khatib, I.A., Ghannam, S., Anayah, F., Jodeh, S., Hanbaly, G., Khalaf, B., van der
Valk, M., 2019. Assessment of rainwater harvesting systems in poor rural communities: A
case study from in Yatta area, Palestine. Water 11.
Aladenola, O.O., Adeboye, O.B., 2010. Assessing the potential for rainwater harvesting. Water.
Resour. Manag.24(10), 2129-2137.
Page 46 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
Alamdari, N., Sample, D.J., Liu, J., Ross, A., 2018. Assessing climate change impacts on the
reliability of rainwater harvesting systems. Resour. Conserv. Recy. 132, 178-189.
Amos, C.C., Rahman, A., Karim, F., Gathenya, J.M., 2018. A scoping review of roof harvested
rainwater usage in urban agriculture: Australia and Kenya in focus. J. Clean Prod. 202, 174-
190.
Anandh, T., Vinoth, R., 2018. Investigation of drinking water demand and its compensation through
adoption of rain water harvesting in Thanjavur. Int. J. Mech. Engr. Tech. 9(7), 799-801.
Areerachakul, N., 2013. The potential of using rain water in Thailand; case study Bangsaiy
Municipality, Ayutthaya. Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water Environ.
Systems 1(3), 213-226.
Arksey, H., O'Malley, L., 2005. Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. Int. J. Soc.
Res. Method. 8(1), 19-32.
Asman, N.S., Halim, A.A., Hanafiah, M.M., Ariffin, F.D., 2017. Determination of rainwater quality
from rainwater harvesting system at Ungku Omar College, UKM Bangi. Sains Malaysiana
46(8), 1211-1219.
Australia, R.h.a.o., 2014. Rainwater harvesting - residential design specification. Australia.
Bank, U.-W., 1990. Information and training for low-cost water supply and sanitation, UNDP-World
Bank Water and Sanitation Program. Washinhton, DC.
Bari, S.H., Rahman, M.T.U., Hoque, M.A., Hussain, M.M., 2016. Analysis of seasonal and annual
rainfall trends in the northern region of Bangladesh. Atmos. Res. 176-177, 148-158.
Barthwal, S., Chandola-Barthwal, S., Goyal, H., Nirmani, B., Awasthi, B., 2014. Socio-economic
acceptance of rooftop rainwater harvesting – A case study. Urban Water J. 11(3), 231-239.
Bashar, M.Z.I., Karim, M.R., Imteaz, M.A., 2018. Reliability and economic analysis of urban
rainwater harvesting: A comparative study within six major cities of Bangladesh. Resour.
Conserv. Recy.133, 146-154.
Basinger, M., Montalto, F., Lall, U., 2010. A rainwater harvesting system reliability model based on
nonparametric stochastic rainfall generator. Journal of Hydrology 392(3-4), 105-118.
Binagwaho, A., Sachs, J.D., 2005. Investing in development a practical plan to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals. London, England: Earthscan.
BlueMountainCo, Water storage & rainwater tank Selection. https://rainharvesting.com.au/field-
notes/articles/rain-harvesting/water-storage-rainwater-tank-selection/. (Accessed 09 January
2019).
Boers, T.M., Ben-Asher, J., 1982. A review of rainwater harvesting. Agri. water manage. 5(2), 145-
158.
Brown, R.R., Farrelly, M.A., Loorbach, D.A., 2013. Actors working the institutions in sustainability
transitions: The case of Melbourne's stormwater management. Glob. Environ. Change 23(4),
701-718.
Campisano, A., C., Butler, D., Ward, S., Burns, M.J., Friedler, E., DeBusk, K., Fisher-Jeffes, L.N.,
Ghisi, E., Rahman, A., Furumai, H., Han, M. (2017). Urban rainwater harvesting systems:
research, implementation and future perspectives, Water Res. 115, 195-209.
Page 47 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
Carvalho, R.S.d., 2010. Potencial econômico do aproveitamento de águas pluviais.
Chidamba, L., Korsten, L., 2015. Antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli isolates from roof-
harvested rainwater tanks and urban pigeon faeces as the likely source of contamination.
Environ. Monit. Assess.187(7), 405.
Chong, W., Naghavi, M., Poh, S., Mahlia, T., Pan, K., 2011. Techno-economic analysis of a wind–
solar hybrid renewable energy system with rainwater collection feature for urban high-rise
application. Appl. Energy 88(11), 4067-4077.
Christian Amos, C., Rahman, A., Mwangi Gathenya, J., 2016. Economic analysis and feasibility of
rainwater harvesting systems in urban and peri-urban environments: A review of the global
situation with a special focus on Australia and Kenya. Water 8(4), 149.
Cook, S., Sharma, A., Chong, M., 2013. Performance Analysis of a Communal Residential Rainwater
System for Potable Supply: A Case Study in Brisbane, Australia. Water Resour. Manag.
27(14), 4865-4876.
Coombes, P.J., Argue, J.R., Kuczera, G., 2000. Figtree Place: A case study in water sensitive urban
development (WSUD). Urban Water 1(4), 335-343.
Coombes, P.J., Dunstan, R., Spinks, A., Evan, C., Harrison, T., 2005. An overview of a decade of
research into the quality of rainwater supplies collected from roofs, Proceedings of 12th
international conference on rain water catchment systems, New Delhi, India.
Coombes, P.J., Kuczera, G., 2003. Analysis of the performance of rainwater tanks in Australian
capital cities, 28th International Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium: About Water;
Symposium Proceedings. Institution of Engineers, Australia, p. 2.
Coombes, P.J., Kuczera, G., Kalma, J.D., Dunstan, H.R., 2000. Rainwater quality from roofs, tanks
and hot water systems at Figtree Place. Hydro 2000: Interactive Hydrology; Proceedings,
1042.
da Cruz, W.M., Blanco, C.J.C., 2017. Aproveitamento de água pluvial para fins não potáveis
residenciais em Rio Branco–AC. Exatas & Engenharia 7(17).
Despins, C., Farahbakhsh, K., Leidl, C., 2009. Assessment of rainwater quality from rainwater
harvesting systems in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology -
AQUA 58(2), 117-134.
Devkota, J., Schlachter, H., Anand, C., Phillips, R., Apul, D., 2013. Development and application of
EEAST: A life cycle based model for use of harvested rainwater and composting toilets in
buildings. J. Environ. Econ. Manag.130, 397-404.
Domènech, L., Saurí, D., 2011. A comparative appraisal of the use of rainwater harvesting in single
and multi-family buildings of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (Spain): social experience,
drinking water savings and economic costs. J. Clean Prod. 19(6), 598-608.
Elmahdi, A., ElGafy, I., Kheireldin, K., 2009. Global warming-water shortage and food security
future planning interaction, system analysis approach (WBFSM). WRM2009. Water
Resource Management, Malta, 9-11.
Evans, J., Ji, F., Lee, C., Smith, P., Argüeso, D., Fita, L., 2014. Design of a regional climate modelling
projection ensemble experiment–NARCliM. Geoscientific Model Development 7(2), 621-
629.

Page 48 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
Famiglietti, J.S., 2014. The global groundwater crisis. Nature Climate Change 4(11), 945.
Farreny, R., Morales-Pinzón, T., Guisasola, A., Tayà, C., Rieradevall, J., Gabarrell, X., 2011. Roof
selection for rainwater harvesting: Quantity and quality assessments in Spain. Water
Res.45(10), 3245-3254.
Fewkes, A., 1999. The use of rainwater for WC flushing: the field testing of a collection system.
Build. Environ.34(6), 765-772.
Fewkes, A., Butler, D., 2000. Simulating the performance of rainwater collection and reuse systems
using behavioural models. Build. Ser. Engr. Res. Techn. 21(2), 99-106.
Fewtrell, L., Kaufmann, R.B., Kay, D., Enanoria, W., Haller, L., Colford, J.M., 2005. Water,
sanitation, and hygiene interventions to reduce diarrhoea in less developed countries: a
systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 5(1), 42-52.
Fewtrell, L., Kay, D., 2007. Microbial quality of rainwater supplies in developed countries: a review.
Urban Water J. 4(4), 253-260.
Fisher, H., Hohnen, L., 2012. ACIAR's Activities in Africa: A review. Australian Centre for
International Agricultural Research.
Fuentes-Galván, M.L., Medel, J.O., Arias Hernández, L.A., 2018. Roof rainwater harvesting in
central Mexico: Uses, benefits, and factors of adoption. Water (Switzerland) 10(2).
Furumai, H., 2008. Rainwater and reclaimed wastewater for sustainable urban water use. Phys. Chem.
Earth, 33(5), 340-346
García Soler, N., Moss, T., Papasozomenou, O., 2018. Rain and the city: Pathways to mainstreaming
rainwater harvesting in Berlin. Geoforum 89, 96-106.
Ghisi, E., 2006. Potential for potable water savings by using rainwater in the residential sector of
Brazil. Build. Environ.41(11), 1544-1550.
Ghisi, E., 2010. Parameters influencing the sizing of rainwater tanks for use in houses. Water. Resour.
Manag.24(10), 2381-2403.
Ghisi, E., de Oliveira, S.M., 2007. Potential for potable water savings by combining the use of
rainwater and greywater in houses in southern Brazil. Build. Environ.42(4), 1731-1742.
Ghisi, E., Ferreira, D.F., 2007. Potential for potable water savings by using rainwater and greywater
in a multi-storey residential building in southern Brazil. Build. Environ.42(7), 2512-2522.
Ghisi, E., Schondermark, P.N., 2013. Investment feasibility analysis of rainwater use in residences.
Water. Resour. Manag.27(7), 2555-2576.
Ghisi, E., Thives, L.P., Paes, R.F.W., 2018. Investment feasibility analysis of rainwater harvesting in
a building in Brazil. Water Science and Technology: Water Supp. 18(4), 1497-1504.
Gikas, G.D., Tsihrintzis, V.A., 2012. Assessment of water quality of first-flush roof runoff and
harvested rainwater. J. Hydro. 466-467, 115-126.
Gomes, U.A.F., Heller, L., Pena, J.L., 2012. A national program for large scale rainwater harvesting:
An individual or public responsibility? Water Res. Manag. 26(9), 2703-2714.
Guerrant, R.L., Schorling, J.B., McAuliffe, J.F., De Souza, M.A., 1992. Diarrhea as a cause and an
effect of malnutrition: diarrhea prevents catch-up growth and malnutrition increases diarrhea
Page 49 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
frequency and duration. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene 47(1_Suppl),
28-35.
Gurung, T.R., Sharma, A., 2014. Communal rainwater tank systems design and economies of scale.
J Clean Prod. 67, 26-36.
Hajani, E., Rahman, A., 2014. Reliability and cost analysis of a rainwater harvesting system in peri-
urban regions of greater Sydney, Australia. Water (Switzerland) 6(4), 945-960.
Hall, M.R., 2013. Review of rainwater tank cost-effectiveness in South East Queensland. Urban
Water Security Research Alliance, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Hamann Jr, C., McEwen, J., Myers, A., 1990. Guide to selection of water treatment processes.
MCGRAW-HILL, INC.,(USA). 1990.
Hamilton, K., Reyneke, B., Waso, M., Clements, T., Ndlovu, T., Khan, W., DiGiovanni, K.,
Rakestraw, E., Montalto, F., Haas, C.N., Ahmed, W., 2019. A global review of the
microbiological quality and potential health risks associated with roof-harvested rainwater
tanks. npj Clean Water 2(1), 7.
Haritash, A., Kaushik, C., Kaushik, A., Kansal, A., Yadav, A.K., 2008. Suitability assessment of
groundwater for drinking, irrigation and industrial use in some North Indian villages. Environ.
Monit. Assess.145(1-3), 397-406.
Hashim, S.M., 2018. How safe is the water we drink?, The Daily Star. Bangladesh.
Hatibu, N., Mahoo, H.F., Gowing, J.W., Kajiru, G., Lazaro, E., Mzirai, O., Rockstrom, J.,
Rwehumbiza, F., Senkondo, E., 2001. Rainwater harvesting for natural resources
management: a planning guide for Tanzania. Rural Land Management Unit.
Helmreich, B., Horn, H., 2009. Opportunities in rainwater harvesting. Desalination 248(1), 118-124.
Herrmann, T., Schmida, U., 2000. Rainwater utilisation in Germany: efficiency, dimensioning,
hydraulic and environmental aspects. Urban Water 1(4), 307-316.
Hofman-Caris, R., Bertelkamp, C., de Waal, L., van den Brand, T., Hofman, J., van der Aa, R., van
der Hoek, J.P., 2019. Rainwater Harvesting for Drinking Water Production: A Sustainable
and Cost-Effective Solution in The Netherlands? Water 11(3), 511.
Hoque, B.A., Hoque, M.M., Ahmed, T., Islam, S., Azad, A.K., Ali, N., Hossain, M., Hossain, M.S.,
2004. Demand-based water options for arsenic mitigation: An experience from rural
Bangladesh. Public Health 118(1), 70-77.
Haque, M.M., Rahman, A., Hagare, D., Kibria, G., Karim, F., 2015. Estimation of catchment yield
and associated uncertainties due to climate change in a mountainous catchment in Australia.
Hydrological Processes 29(19), 4339-4349.
Haque, M.M., Rahman, A., Samali, B., 2016. Evaluation of climate change impacts on rainwater
harvesting. J Clean. Prod. 137, 60-69.
Ibrahim, M.B., 2009. Rainwater harvesting for urban areas: A success story from Gadarif City in
Central Sudan. Water. Resour. Manag.23(13), 2727-2736.
Imteaz, M.A., Adeboye, O.B., Rayburg, S., Shanableh, A., 2012. Rainwater harvesting potential for
southwest Nigeria using daily water balance model. Resour. Conserv. Recy.62, 51-55.

Page 50 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
Imteaz, M.A., Karki, R., Shamseldin, A., Matos, C., 2017. eTank and contemporary online tools for
rainwater tank outcomes analysis. Int. J. Comp. Aided Engr. Tech. 9(3), 372-384.
Imteaz, M.A., Shanableh, A., Rahman, A., Ahsan, A., 2011. Optimisation of rainwater tank design
from large roofs: A case study in Melbourne, Australia. Resour. Conserv. Recy.55(11), 1022-
1029.
Ishaku, H.T., Majid, M.R., Johar, F., 2012. Rainwater harvesting: an alternative to safe water supply
in Nigerian rural communities. Water. Resour. Manag.26(2), 295-305.
Islam, M.M., Chou, F.N.-F., Kabir, M.R., 2011. Feasibility and acceptability study of rainwater use
to the acute water shortage areas in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Nat. Hazards 56(1), 93-111.
Islam, M.M., Chou, F.N.F., Kabir, M.R., 2010a. Acceptability of the rainwater harvesting system to
the slum dwellers of Dhaka City. Water Sci. Technol.61(6), 1515-1523.
Islam, M.M., Chou, F.N.F., Kabir, M.R., Liaw, C.H., 2010b. Rainwater: A potential alternative source
for scarce safe drinking and arsenic contaminated water in Bangladesh. Water. Resour.
Manag.24(14), 3987-4008.
Jayaswal, K., Sahu, V., Gurjar, B., 2018. Water Pollution, Human Health and Remediation, Water
Remediation. Springer, pp. 11-27.
Jensen, M.A., 2008. Feasibility of rainwater harvesting for urban water management in Salt Lake
City. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Utah.
Jha, M.K., Chowdary, V., Kulkarni, Y., Mal, B., 2014. Rainwater harvesting planning using
geospatial techniques and multicriteria decision analysis. Resour. Conserv. Recy.83, 96-111.
Joseph, G., Haque, S.S., Yoshida, N., Yanez Pagans, M., Sohag, M.K.U.B., Moqueet, N.S., Smith,
D.A., Lahiri, S., Ellery, M., Sen, S., Ayling, S.C.E., 2018. Promising progress : A diagnostic
of water supply, sanitation, hygiene, and poverty in Bangladesh WASH Poverty Diagnostic.
World Bank Group, Washington, D.C.
Kahinda, J.-m.M., Rockström, J., Taigbenu, A.E., Dimes, J., 2007. Rainwater harvesting to enhance
water productivity of rainfed agriculture in the semi-arid Zimbabwe. Phys. Chem. Earth., Parts
A/B/C 32(15-18), 1068-1073.
Kahinda, J.M., Taigbenu, A., 2011. Rainwater harvesting in South Africa: Challenges and
opportunities. Phys. Chem. Earth., Parts A/B/C 36(14-15), 968-976.
Karim, M.R., 2010. Quality and suitability of harvested rainwater for drinking in Bangladesh. Water
Science and Technology: Water Supp. 10(3), 359-366.
Keithley, S.E., Fakhreddine, S., Kinney, K.A., Kirisits, M.J., 2018. Effect of treatment on the quality
of harvested rainwater for residential systems. J. Ame. Water Works Assoc. 110(7), E1-E11.
Khastagir, A., Jayasuriya, N., 2010. Optimal sizing of rain water tanks for domestic water
conservation. J. Hydro. 381(3), 181-188.
Kisakye, V., Akurut, M., Van der Bruggen, B., 2018. Effect of climate change on reliability of
rainwater harvesting systems for Kabarole District, Uganda. Water, 10(1), 71.
Kim, T., Lye, D., Donohue, M., Mistry, J. H., Pfaller, S., Vesper, S., & Kirisits, M. J. (2016).
Harvested rainwater quality before and after treatment and distribution in residential systems.
J. Ame. Water Works Assoc., 108(11), E571-E584.
Page 51 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
Kus, B., Kandasamy, J., Vigneswaran, S., Shon, H., 2010. Analysis of first flush to improve the water
quality in rainwater tanks. Water Sci. Techn. 61(2), 421-428.
Lancaster, B., Marshall, J., 2008. Rainwater harvesting for drylands and beyond. Rainsource Press
Tucson, USA.
Lee, J.Y., Bak, G., Han, M., 2012. Quality of roof-harvested rainwater - Comparison of different
roofing materials. Environ. Pollut. 162, 422-429.
Lee, K.E., Mokhtar, M., Mohd Hanafiah, M., Abdul Halim, A., Badusah, J., 2016. Rainwater
harvesting as an alternative water resource in Malaysia: potential, policies and development.
J. Clean Prod. 126, 218-222.
Lambert, A., Taylor, R., 2010. Water loss guidelines. Water New Zealand, New Zealand.

Lo, K., Koralegedara, S., 2015. Effects of climate change on urban rainwater harvesting in Colombo
city, Sri Lanka. Environments 2(1), 105-124.
Lopes, A.C., Rupp, R.F., Ghisi, E., 2016. Assessment of the potential for potable water savings by
using rainwater in houses in southern Brazil. Water Science and Technology: Water Supply
16(2), 533-541.
López Zavala, M., Castillo Vega, R., López Miranda, R., 2016. Potential of rainwater harvesting and
greywater reuse for water consumption reduction and wastewater minimization. Water 8(6),
264.
López Zavala, M.Á., Prieto, M.J.C., Rojas, C.A.R., 2018. Rainwater harvesting as an alternative for
water supply in regions with high water stress. Water Science and Technology: Water Supply
18(6), 1946-1955.
Lye, D.J., 2002. Health risks associated with consumption of untreated water from household roof
catchment systems. J. Ame. Water Res. Assoc. 38(5), 1301-1306.
Ma, Z., Kang, S., Zhang, L., Tong, L., Su, X., 2008. Analysis of impacts of climate variability and
human activity on streamflow for a river basin in arid region of northwest China. J. Hydro.
352(3-4), 239-249.
Macpherson, G., 2009. CO2 distribution in groundwater and the impact of groundwater extraction on
the global C cycle. Chem. Geol. 264(1-4), 328-336.
Maheepala, S., Coultas, E., Neumann, L., Sharma, A., 2013. Quantification of rural scale water
quantity and quality implications of rainwater tanks in South East Queensland, Urban Water
Security Research Alliance Technical Report. Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Mahmoud, W.H., Elagib, N.A., Gaese, H., Heinrich, J., 2014. Rainfall conditions and rainwater
harvesting potential in the urban area of Khartoum. Resour. Conserv. Recy.91, 89-99.
Mays, N., Roberts, E., Popay, J., 2001. Synthesising research evidence. Studying the organisation
and delivery of health services: Res. methods 220.
Mbilinyi, B., Tumbo, S., Mahoo, H., Mkiramwinyi, F., 2007. GIS-based decision support system for
identifying potential sites for rainwater harvesting. Phys. Chem. Earth., Parts A/B/C 32(15-
18), 1074-1081.

Page 52 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
McDonald, R.I., Green, P., Balk, D., Fekete, B.M., Revenga, C., Todd, M., Montgomery, M., 2011.
Urban growth, climate change, and freshwater availability. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences 108(15), 6312-6317.
Meehan, K.M., Moore, A.W., 2014. Downspout politics, upstream conflict: formalizing rainwater
harvesting in the United States. Water Int. 39(4), 417-430.
Mendez, C.B., Klenzendorf, J.B., Afshar, B.R., Simmons, M.T., Barrett, M.E., Kinney, K.A., Kirisits,
M.J., 2011. The effect of roofing material on the quality of harvested rainwater. Water
Res.45(5), 2049-2059.
Meter, K.J.V., Basu, N.B., Tate, E., Wyckoff, J., 2014. Monsoon harvests: The living legacies of
rainwater harvesting systems in South India. ACS Publications.
Middelkoop, H., Daamen, K., Gellens, D., Grabs, W., Kwadijk, J.C., Lang, H., Parmet, B.W.,
Schädler, B., Schulla, J., Wilke, K., 2001. Impact of climate change on hydrological regimes
and water resources management in the Rhine basin. Climatic Change 49(1-2), 105-128.
Morales-Pinzón, T., Lurueña, R., Rieradevall, J., Gasol, C.M., Gabarrell, X., 2012. Financial
feasibility and environmental analysis of potential rainwater harvesting systems: A case study
in Spain. Resour. Conserv. Recy.69, 130-140.
Morris, R.D., 1995. Drinking water and cancer. Environ. Health Perspectives 103(suppl 8), 225-231.
Musayev, S., Burgess, E., Mellor, J., 2018. A global performance assessment of rainwater harvesting
under climate change. Res. Conser. Recycl. 132, 62-70.
Mwenge Kahinda, J.-m., Taigbenu, A.E., Boroto, J.R., 2007. Domestic rainwater harvesting to
improve water supply in rural South Africa. Phys. Chem. Earth., Parts A/B/C 32(15), 1050-
1057.
Ngure, F.M., Reid, B.M., Humphrey, J.H., Mbuya, M.N., Pelto, G., Stoltzfus, R.J., 2014. Water,
sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), environmental enteropathy, nutrition, and early child
development: making the links. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1308(1), 118-
128.
NHMRC, N., 2011. Australian drinking water guidelines. Commonwealth of Australia.
Nolde, E., 2007. Possibilities of rainwater utilisation in densely populated areas including
precipitation runoffs from traffic surfaces. Desalination 215(1-3), 1-11.
NSW-Health, Rainwater treatment guide.
Pacey, A., Cullis, A., 1986. Rainwater harvesting: the collection of rainfall and runoff in rural areas.
Intermediate technology publications.
Palla, A., Gnecco, I., Lanza, L.G., La Barbera, P., 2012. Performance analysis of domestic rainwater
harvesting systems under various European climate zones. Resour. Conserv. Recy.62, 71-80.
Perry, R.W., Lindell, M.K., Tierney, K.J., 2001. Facing the unexpected: Disaster preparedness and
response in the United States. Joseph Henry Press.
Rahman, A., 2017. Recent advances in modelling and implementation of rainwater harvesting
systems towards sustainable development. Water (Switzerland) 8(12).
Rahman, A., Dbais, J., Mitchell, C., Ronaldson, P., Shrestha, S., 2007. Study of rainwater tanks as a
source of alternative water supply in a multistorey residential building in Sydney Australia,
Page 53 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
Restoring Our Natural Habitat - Proceedings of the 2007 World Environmental and Water
Resources Congress.
Rahman, A., Eslamian, S., 2016. Rainwater tanks as a means of water reuse and conservation in urban
areas. Urban Water Reuse Handbook, 805-814.
Rahman, A., Keane, J., Imteaz, M.A., 2012. Rainwater harvesting in Greater Sydney: Water savings,
reliability and economic benefits. Resour. Conserv. Recy.61, 16-21.
Reichmann, B., 2009. Stadtökologische Modellvorhaben und Gebäudebegrünung. Tagungsband -
Internationaler Gründach-Kongress, 135-144.
Roebuck, R.M., Oltean-Dumbrava, C., Tait, S., 2011. Whole life cost performance of domestic
rainwater harvesting systems in the United Kingdom. Water Environ. J. 25(3), 355-365.
Sample David, J., Liu, J., Wang, S., 2013. Evaluating the dual benefits of rainwater harvesting
systems using reliability analysis. J. Hydrol. Engr. 18(10), 1310-1321.
Sazakli, E., Alexopoulos, A., Leotsinidis, M., 2007. Rainwater harvesting, quality assessment and
utilization in Kefalonia Island, Greece. Water Res.41(9), 2039-2047.
Schipper, P., Vissers, M., Van Der Linden, A., 2008. Pesticides in groundwater and drinking water
wells: overview of the situation in the Netherlands. Water Sci. Technol.57(8), 1277-1286.
Sekar, I., Randhir, T.O., 2007. Spatial assessment of conjunctive water harvesting potential in
watershed systems. J. Hydro. 334(1), 39-52.
Shahid, S., 2010. Rainfall variability and the trends of wet and dry periods in Bangladesh. Int. J.
Climat. 30(15), 2299-2313.
Siddique, A., 2016. WB-funded study finds water of Dhaka rivers unusable, DhakaTribune.
Bangladesh.
Silva, C.M., Sousa, V., Carvalho, N.V., 2015. Evaluation of rainwater harvesting in Portugal:
Application to single-family residences. Resour. Conserv. Recy.94, 21-34.
Simmons, G., Hope, V., Lewis, G., Whitmore, J., Gao, W., 2001. Contamination of potable roof-
collected rainwater in Auckland, New Zealand. Water Res.35(6), 1518-1524.
Smith, A.H., Lingas, E.O., Rahman, M., 2000. Contamination of drinking-water by arsenic in
Bangladesh: a public health emergency. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 78, 1093-
1103.
Soares Geraldi, M., Ghisi, E., 2018. Assessment of the length of rainfall time series for rainwater
harvesting in buildings. Resour. Conserv. Recy. 133, 231-241.
Sorenson, S.B., Morssink, C., Campos, P.A., 2011. Safe access to safe water in low income countries:
water fetching in current times. Social Sci. Med. 72(9), 1522-1526.
Spinks, A.T., Coombes, P., Dunstan, R., Kuczera, G., 2003. Water quality treatment processes in
domestic rainwater harvesting systems, 28th International Hydrology and Water Resources
Symposium: About Water; Symposium Proceedings. Institution of Engineers, Australia, p. 2.
Steffen, J., Jensen, M., Pomeroy, C.A., Burian, S.J., 2013. Water supply and stormwater management
benefits of residential rainwater harvesting in US cities. J. Ame. Water Res. Assoc. 49(4),
810-824.

Page 54 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
Tam, V.W.Y., Tam, L., Zeng, S.X., 2010. Cost effectiveness and tradeoff on the use of rainwater
tank: An empirical study in Australian residential decision-making. Resour. Conserv.
Recy.54(3), 178-186.
Taylor, B., 2011. Rapid estimation of rainwater yield throughout Australia and review of Queensland
rainwater harvesting operating policy, Proceedings of the 2011 SSEE International
Conference: Escaping Silos (SSEE 2011). Engineers Australia.
Teston, A., Geraldi, M.S., Colasio, B.M., Ghisi, E., 2018. Rainwater harvesting in buildings in Brazil:
A literature review. Water 10(4), 471.
Thomas, T., Ritter, T., Bruden, D., Bruce, M., Byrd, K., Goldberger, R., Dobson, J., Hickel, K., Smith,
J., Hennessy, T., 2016. Impact of providing in-home water service on the rates of infectious
diseases: results from four communities in Western Alaska. J. Water Health 14(1), 132-141.
Todini, E., 1988. Rainfall-runoff modeling—Past, present and future. J. Hydro. 100(1-3), 341-352.
Tsakovski, S., Tobiszewski, M., Simeonov, V., Polkowska, Ż., Namieśnik, J., 2010. Chemical
composition of water from roofs in Gdansk, Poland. Environ. Pollut. 158(1), 84-91.
Van Der Sterren, M., Rahman, A., Dennis, G.R., 2013. Quality and quantity monitoring of five
rainwater tanks in Western Sydney, Australia. J. Environ. Engr. (United States) 139(3), 332-
340.
Vialle, C., Sablayrolles, C., Lovera, M., Jacob, S., Huau, M.C., Montrejaud-Vignoles, M., 2011.
Monitoring of water quality from roof runoff: Interpretation using multivariate analysis.
Water Res.45(12), 3765-3775.
Villarreal, E.L., Dixon, A., 2005. Analysis of a rainwater collection system for domestic water supply
in Ringdansen, Norrköping, Sweden. Build. Environ.40(9), 1174-1184.
Vishwanath, S., 2001. Domestic rainwater harvesting–some applications in Bangalore, India, Rain
Water Harvesting Conference. H2-1. p. 5.
Visvanathan, C., Vigneswaran, S., Kandasamy, J., 2015. Rainwater collection and storage in
Thailand: Design, practices and operation. J. Water Sust. 5(4), 129.
Wallace, C.D., Bailey, R.T., Arabi, M., 2015. Rainwater catchment system design using simulated
future climate data. J. Hydro. 529, 1798-1809.
Wanjiru, E., Xia, X., 2018. Sustainable energy-water management for residential houses with optimal
integrated grey and rain water recycling. J. clean prod. 170, 1151-1166.
Wang, X.-j., Zhang, J.-y., Yang, Z.-f., Shahid, S., He, R.-m., Xia, X.-h., Liu, H.-w., 2015. Historic
water consumptions and future management strategies for Haihe River basin of Northern
China. Mitig. Adapt. Strat. Gl. 20(3), 371-387.
Ward, S., Memon, F.A., Butler, D., 2012. Performance of a large building rainwater harvesting
system. Water Res.46(16), 5127-5134.
Wirojanagud, P., Vanvarothorn, V., 1990. Jars and tanks for rainwater storage in rural Thailand.
Waterlines 8(3), 29-32.
Woltersdorf, L., Jokisch, A., Kluge, T., 2014. Benefits of rainwater harvesting for gardening and
implications for future policy in Namibia. Water Policy 16(1), 124-143.

Page 55 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
Writers, S., 2019. Taps run dry in India’s sixth biggest city as millions contend with water crisis,
news.com.au. Australia
Yang, Q., Wang, L., Ma, H., Yu, K., Martín, J.D., 2016. Hydrochemical characterization and
pollution sources identification of groundwater in Salawusu aquifer system of Ordos Basin,
China. Environ. Pollut. 216, 340-349.
Zaizen, M., Urakawa, T., Matsumoto, Y., Takai, H., 2000. The collection of rainwater from dome
stadiums in Japan. Urban Water 1(4), 355-359.
Zhai, Y., Zhao, X., Teng, Y., Li, X., Zhang, J., Wu, J., Zuo, R., 2017. Groundwater nitrate pollution
and human health risk assessment by using HHRA model in an agricultural area, NE China.
Ecotoxicology Environ. Safety 137, 130-142.
Zhang, D., Gersberg, R.M., Wilhelm, C., Voigt, M., 2009. Decentralized water management:
rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse in an urban area of Beijing, China. Urban Water J.
6(5), 375-385.
Zhang, F., Polyakov, M., Fogarty, J., Pannell, D.J., 2015. The capitalized value of rainwater tanks in
the property market of Perth, Australia. J. Hydro. 522, 317-325.
Zhang, S., Zhang, J., Jing, X., Wang, Y., Wang, Y., Yue, T., 2018. Water saving efficiency and
reliability of rainwater harvesting systems in the context of climate change. J. Clean Prod.
196, 1341-1355.
Zhang, S., Zhang, J., Yue, T., Jing, X., 2019. Impacts of climate change on urban rainwater harvesting
systems. Sci. Total Environ. 665, 262-274.
Zunckel, M., Saizar, C., Zarauz, J., 2003. Rainwater composition in northeast Uruguay. Atmos.
Environ. 37(12), 1601-1611.

Page 56 of 56
 Journal Pre-proof
Highlights:

There has been limited research on rainwater harvesting for producing drinking water.

Harvested rainwater in rural areas are generally consumed without formal treatment.

Inappropriate design of rainwater systems is a barrier to achieve sustainability.

Impact of climate change on RWH system reliability should be considered in WBM.

Proper treatment and disinfection method can convert rainwater to drinking water.