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\"Create an Oasis describes how to choose, build, and use a simple greywater system (some can be completed in an afternoon). Going deeper, it explains how to integrate efficient fixtures, user habits, plant selection and location, rainwater, greywater, and freshwater irrigation for your soil and site conditions.\" -- Provided by publisher.

Rainwater harvesting systems (RWHs) in buildings are benefits in alleviating urban water scarcity. However, climate change and changes in building water demand affect the expected performance of RWHs over their life cycle. Previous studies have only focused on the adaptability of RWHs to climate change without considering the changes in building water demand. To address this issue, this study explores the impact of combined changes in precipitation patterns and domestic water demand on the water-saving efficiency of RWHs over their 25-year life cycle based on historical observations. Three cities in Japan were selected as case studies. The results indicate that during 25-year life cycle of RWHs, precipitation in different cities in Japan shows an increasing trend, while domestic water demand shows a decreasing trend. Such trend resulted in a change of -2.90–4.02% in the water-saving efficiency of the established RWHs and a change of -2.90–3.82% in the theoretical optimal water-saving efficiency, and these effects were greater in RWHs in buildings with high non-potable water demands. Therefore, RWHs in buildings with low non-potable water demand can appropriately reduce the rainwater tanks, while RWHs in buildings with high non-potable water demand must increase the rainwater tank size to eliminate this adverse effect. Furthermore, both reductions in domestic water demand and increases in precipitation have a positive effect on the water-saving efficiency of RWHs. However, when both domestic water demand and precipitation increase or decrease simultaneously, the change in water-saving efficiency of RWHs is related to the non-potable water demand of the building. This study can provide data support and theoretical evidence for the further implementation of RWHs under climate change, and can help stakeholders to optimize and update RWHs to ensure system feasibility.

Purpose The consumption of freshwater can increase local competition among ecosystems needs, agriculture, and domestic users. This competition can lead to reduced domestic water availability and subsequent inadequate hygiene practices leading to water-related diseases. Among the few attempts to develop endpoint-oriented characterization models and factors to assess this impact pathway, limitations still need to be addressed to improve the effect factor (EF) representing the marginal increase in health damage associated with 1 m 3 of water consumed. This research proposes a revised country-scale effect model assessing diarrheal diseases due to domestic water deprivation, considering different levels of water availability within a country. Methods The calculation of the EF is based on the principle that the probability of negative health consequences associated with depriving a domestic user of 1 m 3 of water depends on the quantity used daily by this user. Three classes of domestic water users are defined based on their range of daily water use. EFs are calculated for each class of domestic users building on a comparative risk assessment methodology and households’ levels of access to drinking water and sanitation from the Joint Monitoring Program. Country-specific EFs are computed as the weighted sum of class-specific EF proportionally to the population within each class. Revised country-specific EFs are used to overwrite the generic constant EF used in previous characterization models and to compute new characterization factors (CFs). Results and discussion Class-specific effect factors equal to 1.35e − 3, 3.44e − 4, and 7.53e − 5 DALY/m 3 for the three classes of users, showing a 57, 89, and 98% reduction compared to previous characterization models. Country-specific EF values range from 7.5e − 05 to 8.7e − 04 DALY/m 3 deprived ( M : 2.5e − 04; SD: 1.8e − 04), representing a reduction of 72.2 to 97.6% compared to previous models. New 11987 CFs were compiled ranging from 0 to 7.63e − 04 DALY/m 3 consumed ( M : 1.9e − 6; SD: 2.1e − 5). The global potential impact induced by water consumption over the year 2019 computed with our model reaches 2.77e + 7 DALYs, corresponding to 50% of the water-related burden of diarrheal disease calculated by a recent epidemiology study, which confirms the plausibility of our results. Conclusions Unlike previous methods, our revised EFs acknowledge inequalities in domestic water consumption within a country. Revised EFs are calculated by country, going beyond the global resolution of previous models, compared to which they show a reduction of 72 to 98%. A sanity check confirms the plausibility of our CFs but does not rule out a potential overestimation. Future research is needed to provide empirical evidence supporting a causal link between water deprivation and diarrheal diseases and to assess uncertainties of the model results.

Water-saving scientifically proved measures are crucial to reduce the use of decreasing fresh water resources. In this study, we investigate the current situation of residents’ domestic water use, analyze the current situation of residents' water-saving measures, the current situation of residents' water-saving consciousness and its influencing factors. We performed a questionnaire survey and data obtained by relevant water supply departments, this paper used SPSS 19.0 and Excel 2020 software to conduct statistical analysis of survey data. Our results show that: (1) overall, the water consumption of urban residents in the central plains suburb is 18% higher than that of the original urban residents. (2) Among the residential water structures, washing, washing clothes and flushing toilets are the most frequent tasks, accounting for 87.3% of the total water consumption. (3) The implementation of water-saving measures by the original urban residents is better than that of the original suburban residents. (4) It is necessary to increase effective water-saving facilities and measures for urban water use.

Domestic supply wells meet much of the world’s potable water demand. These wells tend to fail as regional groundwater levels decline from intensive agricultural groundwater use, especially during drought when additional pumping occurs. This work examines approaches for addressing impacts on domestic wells in much of the San Joaquin Valley in California, USA, where groundwater management is now required. Mitigation actions and their costs are considered to allow continued well operations as groundwater levels decline to target levels specified in groundwater management plans. The estimated total mitigation cost for groundwater-level declines to the planned management targets ranges from $42 to $96 million depending upon well retirement age. If groundwater levels decline further to defined limits below the management targets allowed during drought, costs increase by $78 to $153 million. There will likely be competition for specialized labor to implement the mitigation actions since agricultural wells will also be affected. Unless current groundwater management plans become more stringent and specify shallower groundwater depth targets, proactive mitigation should be considered for the most vulnerable areas to prevent impacts from growing beyond the capacity for timely mitigation and to avoid widespread failure of rural domestic water supplies. The cost of mitigation for impacted wells is estimated to be less than 2% of the benefit to agriculture from being allowed to pump groundwater in excess of management targets during a multiyear drought.

The Ría de Vigo catchment is situated in the largest radon-prone area of the Iberian Peninsula. High local indoor radon ( 222 Rn) levels are the preeminent source of radiation exposure, with negative effects on health. Nevertheless, information on radon levels of natural waters and the potential human exposure risks associated with their domestic use is very sparse. To elucidate the environmental factors increasing human exposure risk to radon during domestic water use, we undertook a survey of local water sources, including springs, rivers, wells, and boreholes, over different temporal scales. Continental waters were highly enriched in 222 Rn: activities ranged from 1.2 to 20.2 Bq L −1 in rivers and levels one to two orders of magnitude higher were found in groundwaters (from 8.0 to 2737 Bq L −1 ; median 121.1 Bq L −1 ). The geology and hydrogeology of local crystalline aquifers support one order of magnitude higher 222 Rn activities in groundwater stored in deeper fractured rock compared to that contained within the highly weathered regolith at the surface. During the mean dry season, 222 Rn activities nearly doubled in most sampled waters in comparison to the wet period (from 94.9 during the dry season to 187.3 Bq L −1 during wet period; n  = 37). Seasonal water use and recharge cycles and thermal convection are postulated to explain this variation in radon activities. The high 222 Rn activities cause the total effective dose of radiation received from domestic use of untreated groundwaters to exceed the recommended 0.1 mSv y −1 . Since more than 70% of this dose comes from indoor water degassing and subsequent 222 Rn inhalation, preventative health policy in the form of 222 Rn remediation and mitigation measures should be implemented prior to pumping untreated groundwater into dwellings, particularly during the dry period.

Johor River Basin provides a wide range of diverse river values such as social, historical, tourism, cultural, ecosystem, and economic values. However, these values are less appreciated by the communities especially young generations due to their increasing attentions on technology and lack of planned outdoor activities. The disconnection from river environment and daily livelihood may reduce awareness and concern about domestic water usage and conservation. The aims of this case study are to explore the perceived river values, highest domestic water usage and best water-saving methods among young generations. The study was conducted at community hall of Kampung Sungai Telor, Johor. A total of 119 students from primary and secondary schools near Johor River participated in the study. Results indicated that ecosystem value is the most appreciated Johor river value (35%, N=80), showering uses the most domestic water (30%, N=62) and reuse rainwater for general domestic washing is the most efficient water-saving methods. This study implies that tailored and revision of educational curriculum or awareness raising programme in accordance to the results of this study is recommended to enhance the connectedness of young generations in river or water conservation.

China’s living arrangement has changed as the economy grows and society makes progress. More and more people prefer to live alone. In 2018, a total of 240 million people chose to live alone in China, with an annual growth of 0.53% per year. How will the growing number of people living alone affect the resources consumption and the ecological environment? Based on the data from 1998 to 2017 at provincial level, this paper selects domestic water and electricity consumption to represent resources consumption, and household garbage generation to represent ecological environment, taking the proportion of single-person households in the total households as the explanatory variable and age, education, and household appliances as the control variables. This paper aims to apply dynamic panel models to analyze the impact of solitary population on resources consumption (water and electricity resources as representatives) and on waste generation. The results show that (1) people living alone consume more resources and generate more garbage, while household waste is influenced most, followed by household electricity consumption and household water consumption, (2) positive relations between age and resources consumption and waste generation have been identified, and (3) the energy-saving technology of home appliances is conducive to resources conservation and emission reduction.

This paper examines the problem of unobserved heterogeneity in urban water demand. It uses a panel quantile regression (QR) approach to focus on segments of consumers with different levels of water consumption. This estimation strategy is applied to a rich set of panel microdata capturing the consumption of water for 4,023 households in Valencia (Spain) between the years 2009 and 2011. To capture heterogeneity in a city’s residential household water consumption, a QR approach is applied to the specified water demand model, enabling analysis for different quantiles (levels) of consumption. The QR shows the behaviour of the parameters for different consumption levels. It enables differentiation of consumer reactions to different independent variables at each quantile of the distribution of the dependent variable. The results provide strong evidence of unobserved heterogeneity at different levels. This approach is useful in that it can lead to better-informed tariff design by providing an understanding of heterogeneity in price elasticities.