title: Financial and environmental modelling of water hardness--implications for utilising harvested rainwater in washing machines.
abstract: A study was conducted to determine the financial and environmental effects of water quality on rainwater harvesting systems. The potential for replacing tap water used in washing machines with rainwater was studied, and then analysis presented in this paper is valid for applications that include washing machines where tap water hardness may be important. A wide range of weather conditions, such as rainfall (284-1,794 mm/year); water hardness (14-315 mg/L CaCO3); tap water prices (0.85-2.65 Euros/m(3)) in different Spanish urban areas (from individual buildings to whole neighbourhoods); and other scenarios (including materials and water storage capacity) were analysed. Rainfall was essential for rainwater harvesting, but the tap water prices and the water hardness were the main factors for consideration in the financial and the environmental analyses, respectively. The local tap water hardness and prices can cause greater financial and environmental impacts than the type of material used for the water storage tank or the volume of the tank. The use of rainwater as a substitute for hard water in washing machines favours financial analysis. Although tap water hardness significantly affects the financial analysis, the greatest effect was found in the environmental analysis. When hard tap water needed to be replaced, it was found that a water price of 1 Euro/m(3) could render the use of rainwater financially feasible when using large-scale rainwater harvesting systems. When the water hardness was greater than 300 mg/L CaCO3, a financial analysis revealed that an net present value greater than 270 Euros/dwelling could be obtained at the neighbourhood scale, and there could be a reduction in the Global Warming Potential (100 years) ranging between 35 and 101 kg CO2 eq./dwelling/year.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación en Gestión Ambiental Territorial (GAT), Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira (UTP), La Julita, 660003 Pereira, Risaralda, AA097, Colombia; Sostenipra (UAB-IRTA-Inèdit), Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), School of Engineering (EE), Campus de la UAB, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: tito@utp.edu.co.
authors.forename: Tito
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morales-Pinzón
authors.affiliation: Intitute des Sciences de l'Environnement (ISE), Université de Genève, Site de Battelle, Batiment D7, route de Drize, CH-1227 Carouge, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lurueña
authors.affiliation: Sostenipra (UAB-IRTA-Inèdit), Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), School of Engineering (EE), Campus de la UAB, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193 Barcelona, Spain; Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gabarrell
authors.affiliation: Inèdit Innovaciós, l, Research Park of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Carretera de Cabris km 2, 08348, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Carles M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Gasol
authors.affiliation: Sostenipra (UAB-IRTA-Inèdit), Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), School of Engineering (EE), Campus de la UAB, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193 Barcelona, Spain; Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rieradevall
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D007846:Laundering / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011891:Rain; D060753:Water Quality; D062066:Water Resources / Q000032:analysis*; D014881:Water Supply
keywords: Financial feasibility; LCA; Rainwater harvesting; Washing machine; Water hardness