Reliability of Harvested Rainfall as an Auxiliary Source of Non-potable Water☆

Abstract Rainwater harvesting is an ancient practice that involves collecting, storing, and using precipitationto meeton-site water needs. This paper develops and demonstrates guidelines for sizing the capacity of storage tanks to provide areliable continuous supply of harvested rainwater for residential households. Operation of the rainwater harvesting system is simulated with a stochastic mass balance performed on an Excel spreadsheet. The daily volume of rainwater in an unbounded tank is tracked to determine the maximum accumulated deficit on a monthly basis. Results are summarized in dimensionless charts showing the minimum size of a rainwater storage tankneeded to meet water demands at specified levels of reliability.