Challenges And Strategic Implementation Approaches In Urban Rainwater Harvesting

Abstract

The world is facing a growing water scarcity in urban areas, as a result of high population growth, urbanization, climatic changes, and excessive exploitation of groundwater resources. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) has become one of the successful and sustainable approaches to increase the water supply in urban areas and enhance the water management system. The urban rain water harvesting systems collect, store and use rainwater collected on roof tops and paved surfaces and other accumulation points to serve domestic, commercial and environmental purposes. Although rainwater harvesting has many benefits, there have been a number of technical, economic, environmental and social issues when it comes to the implementation of rainwater harvesting in urban settings. The challenges in its adoption include risks of contamination, non-regularity in rainfall, high cost of installation, poor public awareness, and poor policy frameworks. Thus, the implementation strategies should be developed to address these obstacles and facilitate the adoption of sustainable water management systems in urban areas. This review article discusses harnessing of rainwater in urban areas in terms of design and its operation, assessment of the amount and quality of the water harvested, the key obstacles related to its use, and the strategic ways to encourage its use. Also, the paper outlines the importance of rainwater harvesting in stormwater management and urban floods alleviation. The results focus on the fact that the combination of rainwater harvesting with urban planning, policy support, awareness programs with the population and advanced technologies can contribute considerably to the improvement of water sustainability in high-growth urban areas.