Rainwater Harvesting
Victor F. Medina - Ph.D. Civil/Environmental Engineering. University of Southern California
These TechNotes are intended to provide general information for the consideration of design strategies. BRIEF DESCRIPTION Many U.S. Army and Department of Defense (DoD) installations are located in water-stressed locations. Rainwater harvesting is an excellent means of supplementing water for use on site if the process is permitted by state and/or local laws. Using rainwater, where appropriate, conserves potable water consumption. Rainwater harvesting describes processes in which precipitation that falls on a site is diverted, captured, and stored for use on-site, as opposed to allowing it to run off, evaporate, or infiltrate into the soil. Depending on its intended use, the captured precipitation may require treatment. In a broad sense, rainwater harvesting can also include capture from surface water runoff; however, in the U.S., runoff is subject to surface water regulations. This document will confine discussion of rainwater harvesting to roof-top capture.