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This paper explores the impact of climate change on major Australian sport stadia, and organizational responses. Specifically, we explore how climate change impacts the water resources used at such stadia and implications for the organizations managing this critical sport infrastructure. We adopted a qualitative case study method focusing on organizations that own and/or manage major sport stadia. Data were collected primarily through semi-structured interviews with participants representing 12 of Australia's 14 major sport stadiums. Data were analyzed using an interpretive process, and themes were developed relating to geo-physical, commercial and regulatory impacts, and adaptive responses. The analysis identified six climate change issues pertaining to water resources: (a) reduced rainfall, (b) increased evaporation from playing surfaces (c) water supply restrictions and other regulation, (d) higher water supply costs, (e) capital costs for water management infrastructure, and (f) negative public perceptions of high water consumption. The three organizational water management strategies were: (a) water harvesting, (b) water storage, and (c) water recycling. These strategies are indicative of adaptation responses to climate impacts. Given the long-term nature of climate change, and the proliferation of water-related public policy activity in recent years, stadium organizations will likely benefit from including climate change and adaptation in their strategic thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems can be used to produce drinking water in rural communities, particularly in developing countries that lack a clean drinking water supply. Most previous research has focused on the application of RWH systems for individual urban households. This paper develops a yield-after-spillage water balance model (WBM) which can calculate the reliability, annual drinking water production (ADWP) and benefit–cost ratio (BCR) of a community-scale RWH system for rural drinking water supply. We consider multiple scenarios regarding community aspects, including 150–1000 users, 70–4800 kL rainwater storage, 20–50 L/capita/day (LCD) drinking water usage levels, local rainfall regimes and economic parameters of Australia (developed country) and Vietnam (developing country). The WBM analysis shows a strong correlation between water demand and water supply with 90% system reliability, which allows both Australian and Vietnamese systems to achieve the similar capability of ADWP and economic values of the produced drinking water. However, the cost of the Vietnamese system is higher due to the requirement of larger rainwater storage due to larger household size and lower rainfall in the dry season, which reduces the BCR compared to the Australian systems. It is found that the RWH systems can be feasibly implemented at the water price of 0.01 AUD/L for all the Vietnamese scenarios and for some Australian scenarios with drinking water demand over 6 kL/day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the utility of the online tool “rainwater harvesting and demand simulation” forwarded by URL http://gettanked.org/ , and categorizes performance variability with respect to Köppen–Geiger climatic classifications of the Australian continent. This is a novel tool because it dynamically calculates the irrigation and evaporative cooling demands in addition to any particular per diem allocation of potable water. The analysis may be either from a finite storage tank of specified capacity, or drawn from water mains, but the present paper is focused on the design of secure off-grid rainwater harvesting systems (RWHS). The nominal consumption target of 155 L per diem per capita must be reduced by varying degrees depending on the locality. Higher demand can be met if sufficient catchment and capacity are provided, or if regular tanker deliveries are readily available. Alternatively, demand restrictions are tabulated as guidance to avoid running dry within the constraints of a nominal 10,000 L capacity storage with 100 m 2 catchment – defining the sustainable load per diem (SLPD) during a “worst case” epoch – this is the break-point for off-grid security. SLPD varies from 86 to 124 L/d among most temperate maritime climate stations, and between 35 and 42 L/d at most desert climate stations. The supporting on-line operating manual includes tabulations of demand for evaporative cooling and irrigation together with the sustainable yield of a rainwater harvest system at 128 locations throughout Australia. Dynamics of non-potable demands should be resolved before using the GetTanked design tool for any particular dwelling or workplace. Indoor and potable water demand must be disaggregated from irrigation, pool evaporation, and evaporative cooling in order to fully exploit the GetTanked tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water is a scarce resource in arid regions, and hence water harvesting is critically important in these regions for which many different means are adopted including groundwater and rainwater harvesting. This paper examines the feasibility of rainwater harvesting from roof catchments in arid regions of Australia. For this, ten representative locations in the arid regions of Australia are selected. Also, ten different sizes of rainwater tanks ranging from 5 kL to 50 kL and three different combinations of water uses are considered. A model is developed to simulate the performance of a rainwater harvesting (RWH) system. It is found that the reliability of a RWH system is highly dependent on mean annual rainfall at the location of interest. It is found that a 20 kL tank can provide a reliability of 61%–97% for toilet and laundry use depending on the location within the Australian arid regions. At the current water price, RWH system is not financially viable in the Australian arid regions. The methodology adopted in this paper can be adapted to other similar arid regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainwater tanks are a fundamental component of integrated water cycle management, but the quality of harvested water is little understood and is potentially affected by many factors such as roofing material, site temperature, frequency of tank use, and surrounding land use. There has been limited study of the first flush, overflow water and harvested water quality from rainwater tanks in Australia. This paper presents the water quality results of a yearlong data collection and analysis study involving five rainwater tanks located in Western Sydney, Australia. The results show that tank water quality was impacted by the construction materials used to fabricate both the tanks and roofs. Furthermore, the overflow and first flush water quality were found to be of a lower standard than the tank samples, with implications for the cleaning of the first flush device and overflow diversion. Finally, the issues identified with the maintenance of the tanks are highlighted and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Exponential growth of water demand and a decrease in usable freshwater due to various climate, environmental and anthropogenic events make rainwater harvesting a useful practice. According to Australian health regulations, drinking rainwater is low risk, if the roof catchment, collection system and storage are well maintained. The CSU Engineering building, which has received an architectural award for its sustainable design, produces its drinking water (3.7 L/person/day) within the premises. Rainwater is collected from the roof catchment, stored outside the building and treated on demand at a fully transparent water treatment plant installed at the entrance of the building. The water treatment facility is fully powered by solar panels installed on the roof. The treatment process consists of several operations, including aeration, sand filtration, GAC adsorption and UV disinfection. The performance of the CSU Engineering water treatment plant for the past 30 months is discussed in this paper. Primary and secondary water quality parameters of treated water were well within Australian drinking water quality standards and showed better results than municipal water available in the host town. The aeration unit improved secondary water quality standards (odor and taste) and the adsorption process was effective for elimination of metals. The result of this experiment indicated that this process could be a promising solution for providing safe drinking water in remote Australia, including sessional demands in rest areas and caravan parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]