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Water webinar – Harvesting Rainwater
August 14 @ 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Robert Mace, PhD, P.G.
Executive Director & Chief Water Policy Officer
The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment
Most people, even installers, don’t consider rainwater harvesting a reliable water source. However, a rainwater harvesting system is, in many ways, just like a reservoir with a catchment, a runoff coefficient, storage, and use. In this study, we evaluated the firm yield of rainwater harvesting across the state with a focus on consistent, daily use. We found that firm rainwater supplies could be attained all across Texas, including El Paso. Not surprisingly, larger amounts of firm water are available in the wetter, eastern parts of the state; however, much of the state could easily support household use. One interesting result was that the defining drought—the drought of record—was a function not only of the rainfall but also of the catchment area, storage size, and daily use. This means that designers should not assume that the drought of record defined by the local reservoir is also the drought of record for a rainwater harvesting system. Our work shows that rainwater can, indeed, be reliable and provides a much more rigorous method of quantifying firm yields for this resource.
