Technical feasibility analysis of rainwater harvesting system implementation for domestic use

Iran is facing the problem of the water crisis; however, rainwater harvesting can be a solution to manage sustainable water resources in this country. This study aims to investigate the technical feasibility of rainwater harvesting system (RWHS) implementation in 7 cities located in the north of Iran. The analysis conducted on a particular scenario of rainwater demand based on water balance concept and analysis of the rainwater tank capacity compatibility. Results indicate that RWHS implementation is technically feasible in the majority of houses of the residential sector of all the seven cities, while a few numbers of apartments can implement the system for the scenario. Therefore, the influence of the roof area variation on the potential for potable water savings in the apartment sector was evaluated to find a more efficient design of RWHS for future construction. The main conclusion drawn from the research is that the potential for potable water savings in order to investigate the technical feasibility for implementing RWHS, be evaluated for each location, as it depends extremely on potable water demand. An inconsistent result with Ghisi et al. (2007) was found by this research that shows cities with higher potable water demand require larger tank capacity.