title: Quality assessment of rooftop runoff and harvested rainwater from a building catchment.
abstract: A major obstacle to the promotion of rainwater harvesting is chemical and microbiological concerns. To determine its suitability as an alternative water resource, water quality parameters such as pH, turbidity and metal ion concentrations and counted total coliform, Escherichia coli and heterotrophic bacteria were measured. It was observed that the stored rainwater had a neutral average pH and that its turbidity depended on the duration and intensity of the rainfall event. Metal concentrations were within the permissible limits specified in the Korea drinking water standard. In addition, counts of coliform, E. coli and heterotrophic bacteria were higher in the first flush 5 min after the start of the rainfall event. Principal component analysis and correlation analysis through 40 events in 2009 showed that the quality of stored rainwater depends on the conditions of the catchment and storage tank and the antecedent dry period.
authors: Natural Products Center, KIST (Korea Institute of Science and Technology), Gangneung Institute, Gangnueng 210-340, South Korea.
authors: J Y
authors: JY
authors: Lee
authors: H J
authors: HJ
authors: Kim
authors: M Y
authors: MY
authors: Han
mesh_terms: D002947:Cities; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D011891:Rain / Q000737:chemistry*; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D019216:Metals, Heavy