RAINWATER HARVESTING: A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION TO STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
Open Access
- Author:
- Vargas, David Mark
- Graduate Program:
- Civil Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- January 22, 2009
- Committee Members:
- Richard Schuhmann, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Peggy Ann Johnson, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Richard Schuhmann, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Arthur Carl Miller, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
James Michael Hamlett, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- stormwater management
rainwater harvesting
sustainability
SWMM - Abstract:
- In most urban areas, conventional stormwater management has lead to increasing environmental and economical problems. It is becoming increasingly important to better utilize the limited amount of available water resources as global population growth and climate change are forecasted to increase water stresses such as flooding and drought. Locally in the Borough of State College and at the University Park Campus of the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) stormwater flooding has caused infrastructure damage and environmental ecosystem damage in terms of erosion, sedimentation, flooding and potential pollution. Stormwater can be viewed either as an expensive threat to environmental protection and social wellbeing, or it can be viewed as an opportunity to promote micro-watershed sustainable development through the use of decentralized stormwater solutions such as rainwater harvesting (RWH). The overall goal of this thesis is to demonstrate how RWH is a sustainable solution to stormwater management. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate whether RWH could mitigate future climate change effects on stormwater runoff and help restore natural pre-development stormwater flow patterns; hence, improving stormwater quantity and quality before the runoff enters receiving waters. RWH was also tested to determine whether it was a financially feasible answer to stormwater management. In order to conduct an urban stormwater impact assessment, hydrologic discharge data were collected from an outlet storm-sewer in the East Campus Drainage Area (ECDA) at Penn State and used to calibrate the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). Also, a financial comparison between a RWH system and the implementation of a green roof on a building under construction at the university with a conventional subterranean stormwater facility was assessed. Through the simulation of five storm events, the ECDA-SWMM hydrologic results indicate that RWH at Penn State has the ability to decrease stormwater quantity peak runoff by 52.7% and total volume runoff by 46.1%. This resulted in a potential decrease of possible future flooding events, a decrease of potential constituents of water quality pollution, and assisted in water conservation. Results from the financial analysis indicate that through the use of rainwater harvesting instead of green roofs and conventional stormwater infrastructure, indicated that Penn State could realize savings of between $10 to $30 million dollars over the next 30 years if Penn State would invest in RWH in future buildings instead of green roofs and conventional stormwater management facilities.