Environmental analysis of a domestic rainwater harvesting system: A case study in France

C. Vialle, G. Busset, L. Tanfin, M. Montrejaud-Vignoles, M.-C. Huau and C. Sablayrolles

Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2015, vol. 102, issue C, 178-184

Abstract: Life cycle assessment methodology along with water footprint analysis was used to assess the environmental impacts of a domestic rainwater harvesting system (RWH) in France. Firstly, the relevance of substituting drinking water (DW) with rainwater in a private individual household was studied. Secondly, the effect of several parameters namely construction of infrastructures, building scale and disinfection were evaluated. The quantification of environmental impacts was performed using Ecoinvent inventory data and Impact 2002+ evaluation method. The water footprint was assessed through the water stress indicator (WSI). From an environmental standpoint, the RWH system has only slightly higher impact than the DW system. The consumption of electricity for pumping generates the strongest impact. The analysis of the WSI showed that the RWH system can relieve a stress on water resources where it exists. Consideration of infrastructures and disinfection turns environmental impacts significantly higher in all impact categories. Setting up the RWH system at bigger scale, i.e., building scale, is a bit less favoured than the RWH system at household scale. This study aims at pointing out areas of improvement which need to be further studied to make RWH systems more sustainable.

Keywords: Rainwater harvesting; Environmental impacts; Life cycle assessment; Water footprint (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344915300574
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:recore:v:102:y:2015:i:c:p:178-184

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.07.024

Access Statistics for this article

Resources, Conservation & Recycling is currently edited by Ming Xu

More articles in Resources, Conservation & Recycling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kai Meng ().