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Designing rainwater harvesting systems : integrating rainwater into building systems
\"Rainwater Harvesting the first comprehensive book on designing rainwater harvesting systems. It provides practical guidelines for developing a rainwater harvesting strategy, taking into account climate, public policies, environmental impact, and end uses. Case studies are included throughout, and a companion website houses worksheets, calculators, and other resources. Rainwater Harvesting is a valuable reference for architects, landscape architects, and site engineers\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Harnessing Subsurface Flow at the Soil‐Bedrock Interface as a Hidden Water Resource for Rainwater Harvesting: Insights From Long‐Term Hydrological Monitoring on a Humid Karst Hillslope
Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems are crucial for mitigating water scarcity in karst landscapes; however, their efficiency remains low even in high‐rainfall areas due to rapid infiltration and limited surface water retention. This study explores the potential of subsurface flow (SSF) at the soil‐bedrock interface as an underutilized water resource to enhance the efficiency of traditional surface flow (SF)‐based RWH systems. Over three hydrological years (2019–2022), we monitored 12 experimental plots on a humid karst hillslope across 159 rainfall events, comparing SSF and SF contributions to total runoff and their implications for RWH efficiency. Our results show that SSF significantly outperforms SF, especially during the rainy seasons. Incorporating SSF into RWH systems increased water collection efficiency from 2.2% in traditional SF‐based systems to 13.1%. Key structural factors influencing SSF generation include soil thickness and bedrock weathering degree, with shallow soils (<50 cm) and weakly weathered bedrock serving as hotspots for SSF. Rainfall intensity and antecedent rainfall events were the key meteorological drivers of SSF. This study highlights the need for SSF‐focused RWH designs in karst landscapes, offering a practical solution to enhance water availability where conventional cisterns fail. The findings have broader implications for water resource management in similar geological settings.
Journal Article
Flow of cerebrospinal fluid is driven by arterial pulsations and is reduced in hypertension
Flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) through perivascular spaces (PVSs) in the brain is important for clearance of metabolic waste. Arterial pulsations are thought to drive flow, but this has never been quantitatively shown. We used particle tracking to quantify CSF flow velocities in PVSs of live mice. CSF flow is pulsatile and driven primarily by the cardiac cycle. The speed of the arterial wall matches that of the CSF, suggesting arterial wall motion is the principal driving mechanism, via a process known as perivascular pumping. Increasing blood pressure leaves the artery diameter unchanged but changes the pulsations of the arterial wall, increasing backflow and thereby reducing net flow in the PVS. Perfusion-fixation alters the normal flow direction and causes a 10-fold reduction in PVS size. We conclude that particle tracking velocimetry enables the study of CSF flow in unprecedented detail and that studying the PVS in vivo avoids fixation artifacts.
Arterial pulsations are thought to drive CSF flow through perivascular spaces (PVSs), but this has never been quantitatively shown. Using particle tracking to quantify CSF flow velocities in PVSs of live mice, the authors show that flow speeds match the instantaneous speeds of the pulsing artery walls that form the inner boundaries of the PVSs.
Journal Article
Low Impact Development (LID) Practices: A Review on Recent Developments, Challenges and Prospects
Low impact development (LID) practices are able to mitigate the detrimental effects of urbanization and climate change due to their salient design features. LID can restore the hydrology of urban areas to the pre-development functions by using distributed stormwater control and natural hydrological features. LID can help to achieve the goal of sustainable development as it promotes effective urban stormwater management. This review covers a comprehensive list of LID practices, namely bioretention cell, green roof, infiltration trench, permeable pavement, rain barrel or cistern, rooftop disconnection and vegetative swale. For each type of the LID, the recent advances covering the aspects of principles, design, performance, advantages and disadvantages and costs are systematically reviewed. Additionally, although LID has been quite broadly applied and demonstrated success in urban stormwater management in many countries, there are still some main challenges during the implementation such as clogging and water quality. Meanwhile, this review also highlights the great opportunities for further developments for LID practices to realize their wider practical application. Finally, future research directions are provided in order to give critical insights into potential future works to advance this field of research.
Journal Article
An integrated framework based on the analytical hierarchy process and auto-calibration of the storm water management model for implementing and assessing low impact development practices
Low Impact Development (LID) practices have emerged as promising solutions for mitigating stormwater runoff in urbanized watersheds. However, the constraints of limited space for the large LID units and the absence of a standardized framework for simulating, calibrating, and implementing these practices introduce significant uncertainties. This study proposes a comprehensive framework for the implementation and simulation of three LID practices—rain barrels, cisterns, and drywells—focusing on their runoff reduction potential in a highly urbanized, flood-prone watershed in Istanbul, Turkey. The framework integrates expert knowledge through the Analytical Hierarchy Process to develop site-specific implementation strategies and employs an auto-calibrated Storm Water Management Model for hydrologic simulations. Key findings demonstrate the efficacy of the Optimization Software Tool for Research Involving Computational Heuristics in calibrating sensitive model parameters. Implementation of the proposed LID practices resulted in significant reductions in runoff peak and volume, along with notable improvements in the time to peak during short-duration (2-h) storm events, within geospatial, environmental, and feasibility constraints. However, their effectiveness was comparatively lower under the long-duration storm scenario tested. The employed methodology is transferable to other densely urbanized metropolitan areas, offering valuable insights for decision-makers in designing effective and sustainable urban stormwater management strategies.
Journal Article
Lidar survey of ancient Maya settlement in the Puuc region of Yucatan, Mexico
The application of lidar remote-sensing technology has revolutionized the practice of settlement and landscape archaeology, perhaps nowhere more so than in the Maya lowlands. This contribution presents a substantial lidar dataset from the Puuc region of Yucatan, Mexico, a cultural subregion of the ancient Maya and a distinct physiographic zone within the Yucatan peninsula. Despite the high density of known sites, no large site has been fully surveyed, and little is known about intersite demography. Lidar technology allows determination of settlement distribution for the first time, showing that population was elevated but nucleated, although without any evidence of defensive features. Population estimates suggest a region among the most densely settled within the Maya lowlands, though hinterland levels are modest. Lacking natural bodies of surface water, the ancient Puuc inhabitants relied upon various storage technologies, primarily chultuns (cisterns) and aguadas (natural or modified reservoirs for potable water). Both are visible in the lidar imagery, allowing calculation of aguada capacities by means of GIS software. The imagery also demonstrates an intensive and widespread stone working industry. Ovens visible in the imagery were probably used for the production of lime, used for construction purposes and perhaps also as a softening agent for maize. Quarries can also be discerned, including in some cases substantial portions of entire hills. With respect to agriculture, terrain classification permits identification of patches of prime cultivable land and calculation of their extents. Lidar imagery also provides the first unequivocal evidence for terracing in the Puuc, indeed in all northern Yucatan. Finally, several types of civic architecture and architectural complexes are visible, including four large acropolises probably dating to the Middle Formative period (700–450 B.C.). Later instances of civic architecture include numerous Early Puuc Civic Complexes, suggesting a common form of civic organization at the beginning of the Late Classic demographic surge, (A.D. 600–750).
Journal Article
Modeling the Effectiveness of Rain Barrels, Cisterns, and Downspout Disconnections for Reducing Combined Sewer Overflows in a City-Scale Watershed
Green Infrastructure / Low Impact Development (GI/LID) is an increasingly popular strategy to manage urban stormwater for individual properties, but the aggregate effect on runoff reduction at the city scale has not been thoroughly investigated. This study examined the potential combined effects of rain barrels, cisterns, and downspout disconnections on combined sewer overflows (CSOs) for a medium-sized urban center. To support a city-wide analysis, a novel simulation strategy was implemented using the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). In this new approach, a modeling at the source technique for subcatchment delineation was combined with a set of R-language utilities to automatically configure GI/LID management scenarios. The reconfigured SWMM model was used to examine 99 distinct management scenarios based on different sizes, numbers, and locations of the targeted GI/LID features for the city of Buffalo, New York. For a typical hydrologic year, the deployment of large residential rain barrels (1000-gallon) resulted in up to a 12% reduction in predicted CSO volume, while the inclusion of large commercial-roof cisterns (5000-gallon) contributed up to an additional 12% reduction. Large variations in the predicted CSO reductions were observed across the various management scenarios, and the simulation tools were able to identify locations where the GI/LID features were most effective. In general, the modeling at the source approach and the R-language tools substantially enhanced the utility of SWMM for evaluating the effectiveness of GI/LID deployment as a CSO management strategy at the city scale, and the methodology can readily be adapted to cities with similar CSO issues.
Journal Article
Stretching Water Availability: Hydrosolidarity in Drought-Prone Regions
In Northeast Brazil, rainwater-harvesting cisterns implemented through the One Million Cisterns Program (P1MC) aim to secure dry-season water supply for low-income households. In the Forquilha Valley, where 88% of households own cisterns, unequal access persists for those without them. In practice, however, cisterns are used year-round and frequently support neighboring households through hydrosolidarity, diverging from program assumptions. This study combines monitored cistern data, household surveys, and rainfall records to assess water management practices. Scenario-based reconstructions were developed to evaluate cistern performance and hydrosolidarity potential during drought across different rainfall capture areas and consumption modalities. Results show predominantly conservative consumption, with a daily rate below 75% of P1MC recommendations. Although sharing occurred on fewer days, it accounted for the majority of extracted volumes, reaching up to 69% annually. Scenario results indicate that cistern performance is primarily controlled by rainfall capture area: mean storage increased from 3% (12 m[sup.2]) to 46% (40 m[sup.2]) and 81% (77 m[sup.2]). Under adaptive conditions, dryness reduction was limited for small capture areas (by 3%) and higher for both intermediate (8%) and large areas (10%). These findings highlight that while capture area governs reliability, sharing and adaptive practices shape cistern water availability under drought, providing grounded socio-hydrological insights.
Journal Article
Entomological survey to determine the role of cisterns in the production of Aedes aegypti in the U.S. Virgin Islands
Given the limited potable water supply in the U.S. Virgin Islands, most residents use cisterns to collect rainwater and store it for their daily needs. A survey conducted in 2019 found that 45.7% of the cisterns contained mosquitoes, and 83.3% of the mosquitoes collected were Aedes aegypti , suggesting an important role as mosquito larval development sites. A subsequent entomological survey was designed to determine the importance of cisterns in producing Ae. aegypti mosquitoes and to understand the cistern factors and characteristics that influence productivity. Three floating funnel traps were installed inside each sampled cistern to collect immature mosquitoes, and exit traps were installed on the intake spouts and overflow pipes, when possible, to collect adult mosquitoes. Physical and chemical characteristics were also recorded. Yard and outdoor patio inspections were conducted at participating households to identify other types of containers with immature mosquitoes. A total of 1,858 households were visited, of which 24% granted access to their cisterns for this study. Of these, 76% of cisterns met protocol criteria, which resulted in 342 cisterns being sampled. Approximately half of the cisterns surveyed were positive for immature mosquitoes. A higher percentage was observed on the St. Thomas and St. John islands (STT District, 57.3%) than St. Croix (STX District, 40.9%). Most immature mosquitoes collected were Ae. aegypti (89.2%), followed by Culex spp . (1.3%), and Ae. mediovittatus (0.38%). Pupal surveys revealed that cisterns were the second highest contributor to the production of Ae. aegypti pupae, with 16.9% of the pupae collected from cisterns. However, this number might be underestimated given sampling limitations. Buckets were the highest Ae. aegypti pupal producer with 47.3%. On average, 5.8% of the exit traps installed on cisterns captured adult mosquitoes, with higher rates of capture on the STT district than on the STX (6.4% versus 5.3%, respectively). Most adult mosquitoes collected (90.7%) were identified as Ae. aegypti, while the other 9.2% were Culex spp . We can conclude that cisterns are important larval development sites for Ae. aegypti and vector management strategies must be developed to reduce their impact.
Journal Article