Feasibility Study of Rainwater Harvesting in Public Buildings: A Case Study in Bayraklı, İzmir

Abstract

Water is a precious and limited resource that nourishes countless living things. As population pressures increase day by day, most communities on Earth are facing a shortage of water resources. For this reason, the authorities started to look for alternative water resources. As a matter of fact, the harvesting of rainwater has once again gained importance and has been the subject of research by researchers and engineers. In this study, investigating the rainwater harvesting potential in public buildings in the Bayraklı district of İzmir shows that approximately 41 thousand tons of rainwater can be harvested, which corresponds to 0.17% of the population demand. On the other hand, this rate decreased to 0.15% in the 2031 projection. We believe that rainwater harvesting in public buildings in urbanized areas is not sufficient, and that authorities should encourage or finance communities that install rainwater harvesting systems to avoid further water stress.