Reliability Analysis of Rainwater Harvesting Tanks for Irrigation Use in Greenhouse Agriculture

Paraskevi A Londra,Nicholas Dercas,Ioannis-Eleftherios Kotsatos,Achilleas T Theocharis,Nikolaos Theotokatos

doi:10.3390/hydrology8030132

Paraskevi A Londra, Nicholas Dercas + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology8030132

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Abstract

Rainwater harvesting is an ancient water management practice that has been used to cover potable and non-potable water needs. In recent years, this practice is adopted as a promising alternative and sustainable source of water to meet irrigation needs in agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions. In the present study, a daily water balance model was applied to investigate the size of rainwater tanks for irrigation use in greenhouse begonia and tomato cultivation in two regions of Greece with significant greenhouse areas. For the application of the water balance model, daily rainfall depth values of a 12-year time series (2008–2020) from representative rainfall stations of the study areas were used, as well as the daily water needs of the crops. The greenhouse roof was assumed to be the water collection area of the rainwater harvesting system with values ranging from 1000 to 10,000 m2. The analysis of the results showed that in the case of the begonia crop, the covered tanks ranged from 100 to 200 m3 per 1000 m2 greenhouse area with a reliability coefficient that ranged from 65 to 72%, respectively, to meet the water needs of plants. Further increase of the reliability coefficient was carried out with disproportionately large volumes of tanks. In the case of the tomato crop, covered tank volumes ranged from 100 to 290 m3 per 1000 m2 of greenhouse area, and had a reliability coefficient of 90% to 100%, respectively, while uncovered tanks had a maximum reliability coefficient of 91% for a critical tank volume of 177 m3 per 1000 m2 of greenhouse area and decreased for any further increase of tank volume.

Highlights

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is an ancient water management practice, which was adopted mainly in arid and semi-arid areas of the world as a method for conservation, storage and distribution of fresh water for potable and non-potable use [1,2,3,4]. the use of RWH systems has been abandoned or reduced in the last century in recent years, in many parts of the world, there has been a renewed interest in rainwater collection techniques, as a sustainable source of water to meet domestic, irrigation and livestock water needs
The results of their study indicated that 61.49% of irrigation needs in heated and 47.74% in unheated greenhouses could be met by rainwater harvesting tanks with a capacity of 0.21 m3/m2 in unheated and 0.30 m3/m2 in a heated greenhouse
The aim of this study is the reliability analysis of rainwater harvesting tanks that are used to meet the water needs of vegetable and ornamental crops cultivated in greenhouses in two regions of Greece with both significant greenhouse areas and water shortage

Summary

Introduction

The use of RWH systems has been abandoned or reduced in the last century in recent years, in many parts of the world, there has been a renewed interest in rainwater collection techniques, as a sustainable source of water to meet domestic, irrigation and livestock water needs. Velasco-Munoz et al [7] performed an analysis of global research on RWH for agricultural irrigation for the last twenty years They concluded that research efforts must be increased to gain greater knowledge on the capacity of rainwater harvesting systems to cover irrigation needs in different farming types. The results of their study indicated that 61.49% of irrigation needs in heated and 47.74% in unheated greenhouses could be met by rainwater harvesting tanks with a capacity of 0.21 m3/m2 in unheated and 0.30 m3/m2 in a heated greenhouse

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