Water Conservation from Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting in Austin, Texas
Date
2021-05
Authors
Rice, Darin Daniel
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Abstract
Rooftop rainwater harvesting may provide an alternate supply of water for many household uses. There is a significant potential for supply from rooftop rainwater harvesting systems to offset the use of utility potable water used for outdoor irrigation demand from landscaped areas in Austin, Texas. To calculate the potential savings of these systems a supply and demand are needed. Monthly average rainfall totals, the area of building footprints of over two hundred thousand single-family residential parcels, and a roof material runoff coefficient were used to calculate the potential volume collected from rooftop rainwater harvesting. Monthly average evapotranspiration totals, the area of landscaped areas of over two hundred thousand single-family residential parcels, and a plant water use coefficient were used to calculate the potential volume conserved from rooftop rainwater harvesting. Object-based, supervised land-use classification was performed on sample areas to obtain the average landscaped area in Austin. The results of this study may help local, regional, and state water planners quantify the potential volume of water collected and conserved from the implementation of rooftop rainwater harvesting systems.
Description
Keywords
water conservation, rainwater harvesting, conservation, storage, landscape, Applied Geography
Citation
Rice, D. D. (2021). Water conservation from rooftop rainwater harvesting in Austin, Texas. Master of Applied Geography Degree, San Marcos, TX.