Checking for missing content type metadata ...
This resource contains content types with missing metadata required to make it public or discoverable. Show missing content type metadata.
Click on the edit button ( ) below to edit this resource.
Checking for non-preferred file/folder path names (may take a long time depending on the number of files/folders) ...
This resource contains some files/folders that have non-preferred characters in their name. Show non-conforming files/folders.
This resource contains content types with files that need to be updated to match with metadata changes. Show content type files that need updating.
Analysis of the rainwater harvesting potential for residential irrigation in Colorado’s main urban areas under future climate conditions
| Authors: |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Owners: |
|
This resource does not have an owner who is an active HydroShare user. Contact CUAHSI (help@cuahsi.org) for information on this resource. |
| Type: | Resource | |
| Storage: | The size of this resource is 87.5 MB | |
| Created: | Oct 31, 2024 at 8:31 p.m. (UTC) | |
| Last updated: | Aug 19, 2026 at 3:06 p.m. (UTC) | |
| Citation: | See how to cite this resource |
| Sharing Status: | Public |
|---|---|
| Views: | 126 |
| Downloads: | 6 |
| +1 Votes: | 1 other +1 this |
| Comments: | No comments (yet) |
Abstract
Precipitation in Colorado is highly variable in space and time, and surface water, which supplies most of the state's water use, faces growing gaps between supply and demand, with municipal shortfalls identified as a major risk in the Colorado Water Plan 2023. Rainwater harvesting coupled with water-wise landscaping offers one conservation strategy to curtail residential irrigation demand. Extending the Denver-focused analysis of Gilliom et al. (2020) to the whole state, this study assesses the variability of rainwater harvesting potential across Colorado's 60 main urban areas under future climate conditions. A daily water balance model using a yield-before-spillage release rule was run for April to October across 9 precipitation scenarios (PRISM historical data plus eight GCM projections under RCP 4.5 and 8.5, downscaled via MACAv2-METDATA), 6 housing configurations, 3 storage capacities (110, 300, and 500 gallons), and 3 irrigation demands (1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 mm/day). System performance was evaluated using the annual rainwater harvesting yield, the fraction of irrigation demand supplied by harvested rainwater. Yield increased with smaller irrigated area, greater storage capacity, and lower irrigation demand, with the irrigated-area effect outweighing housing density. Across urban areas, mean annual yield was highest in Vail (28%) and lowest in Trinidad (18%), with the highest-yielding locations concentrated in the high-elevation Interstate 70 corridor and the lowest in southern and western Colorado. Under favorable conditions rainwater harvesting yielded 18% to 100% (mean 62%), while under Colorado's current 110-gallon legal storage limit it yielded 10% to 65% (mean 32%), indicating a promising supplemental source for offsetting outdoor municipal water use.
Subject Keywords
Coverage
Spatial
Content
Credits
Funding Agencies
This resource was created using funding from the following sources:
| Agency Name | Award Title | Award Number |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado Water Center | FY23 USGS 104 B Graduate Student | None |
How to Cite
This resource is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Comments
There are currently no comments
New Comment