FEASIBILITY STUDY OF WATER HARVESTING IN COMMERCIAL BUILDING

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation research is to look into the feasibility of harvesting rainwater in commercial buildings by examining the guidelines and water harvesting techniques that are available. The world is facing a global water shortage crisis and the supply of fresh clean water is unable to meet the demand as the world population increase. Many countries in the world do not have access to clean water and countries that have that access tend to misuse or do not practise water management. Singapore is well-known for it water reclamation policy and the country is working hard to push itself to be more self-reliant on its primary source. Nearly two-third of the island (PUB, is used to harvest rainwater and the republic has invested heavily to improve the sewage and water infrastructure to cater for the future of the nation. It is therefore important to stress that with that immense effort spent on water reclamation, water must be wisely conserve and managed. The research aims to open up an opportunity to highlight the benefits of shifting the mindset of the industry towards sustainability and to support the government’s effort of reducing the per capital water consumption. Case studies were examined and manuals, guidelines and Code of Practises that is related to rainwater harvesting are carefully studied. Rainfall data and water consumption of sanitary fittings and irrigation appliances were computed to determine the non-portable water usage amount on the premises, the size of the system to be installed and an estimated cost of procuring the system. A checklist was finally completed with the fusion of the Code of Practise and manuals studied and the insertion of the formulas to calculate the water demand. Base on the analysis of the case studies and the data computed, Singapore received high amount of annual rainfall and the potential savings generated by the replacement of supply water from the tap with rainwater is worth noting.