Abstract
In water management, climate changes require adaptation, protection of existing resources and the search for alternative water sources. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is increasingly becoming an alternative water source, applicable for many directions of its use. The aim of the research was to analyse the influence of long-term climate change on the potential for rainwater harvesting in households in Central Europe in Poland. The analysis of long-term climate changes impact on the household rainwater harvesting potential was conducted for the 50-year period for 19 cities in Poland. The water balance model was operated in a day-step mode, and the research was carried out in four “time scales approach”. For the purpose of all analyses, a standard weekly water demand profile was developed. It includes the daily sub-profiles for every working day and weekend, covering the washing and toilet flushing needs for a 4-person household. In order to evaluate the long-term changes in residential harvesting in Poland, a hypothetical residential RWH was investigated in 19 locations and rainfall conditions. To illustrate the time-spatial variation of annual rainfall amounts in the analyzed period, the heat map was prepared as the pre-simulation stage. Results show that the design of RWH systems should be based on archival data and take into account the many years of rainfall changes. This will improve performance and secure benefits for the users of this system.
Highlights
In recent years, more and more attention is paid to climate change, especially in the context of global warming and of the increasing occurrence of severe weather phenomena (Dai 2011, Kundzewicz 2012, Schiermeier 2011, UN Report Climate changes)
The goal of the work is an analysis of the influence of long-term climate change on the potential rainwater harvesting for washing and toilet flushing needs for a 4-person household in Poland
Benchmarking metrics for assessing the long-term performance and behaviour of all 19 Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems were represented by the simulation output data
Summary
More and more attention is paid to climate change, especially in the context of global warming and of the increasing occurrence of severe weather phenomena (Dai 2011, Kundzewicz 2012, Schiermeier 2011, UN Report Climate changes). An increase in the average annual temperature on the globe causes an increased water circulation in the hydrologic cycle, as the maximum water vapour mass in the atmosphere increases, as per the Clausius–Clapeyron relation, by approximately 7% along with a 1 °C increase in temperature (Held 2006, Lenderink 2011, Pall 2006). One should expect that an increase in the availability of moisture in the atmosphere will cause a change in the rainfall regime, and this includes an increase in the intensity of extreme rainfall (Allan 2008, Fleig 2015, Saboia 2017, Trenberth 2011). According to the European Environment, the annual precipitation trends have changed over the last century. Northern Europe has become wetter (10–40% growth), and southern Europe has
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