Influence of Catchment Surface Material on Quality of Harvested Rainwater

Felipe Barriga, Gloria Gómez, M. Cristina Diez, Leonardo Fernandez and Gladys Vidal ()
Additional contact information
Felipe Barriga: Water Research Center for Agriculture and Mining (CRHIAM), ANID Fondap, Victoria 1295, Concepcion 4070411, Chile
Gloria Gómez: Water Research Center for Agriculture and Mining (CRHIAM), ANID Fondap, Victoria 1295, Concepcion 4070411, Chile
M. Cristina Diez: Water Research Center for Agriculture and Mining (CRHIAM), ANID Fondap, Victoria 1295, Concepcion 4070411, Chile
Leonardo Fernandez: Water Harvest Company Gomez y Fernández SPA, Avenida Pedro Aguirre Cerda N° 543, Casa 2, San Pedro de la Paz 4130107, Chile
Gladys Vidal: Water Research Center for Agriculture and Mining (CRHIAM), ANID Fondap, Victoria 1295, Concepcion 4070411, Chile

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 15, 1-13

Abstract: Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems offer an opportunity to diversify the water matrix under drought scenario. However, there is not a robust institutional framework for managing this new source of water. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of the catchment surface material on the quality of rainwater collected. Three systems were installed in south-central Chile, which collected rainwater from three different surfaces: gravel tile, zinc-polycarbonate sheets, and clay tiles. The RWH system consists of a first flush diverter and then a storage system with chlorination. The rainwater was characterized by its physicochemical and microbiological properties for its possible final use, considering the current regulations for drinking water and agricultural irrigation. The results indicate that the raw rainwater harvested from different surfaces presented a high mean conductivity of 232 ± 146 µS/cm. Meanwhile, fecal coliform values were <1 MPN/100 mL, which indicates good microbiological quality. Regarding the quality for use as drinking water, it was found that of 39 parameters evaluated according to a reference standard, only the pH was above the indicated limit. Meanwhile, the harvested water presents satisfactory quality for irrigation, except for its sodium (35–50% above the standard) and pesticide values (with respect to 0.028 µg Delta-BHC/L at Site 2).

Keywords: catchment surface material; international guidelines; rainwater harvesting; water quality; reuse (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/15/6586/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/15/6586/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:15:p:6586-:d:1447839

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().