SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING RAINWATER HARVESTING SYSTEMS- AZROU AS A CASE STUDY Capstone Design December 2020 Hajar Serrhini Naji Supervised by: Hassan Dahmaoui Naeem Nisar Sheikh SCHOOL OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING – AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY RAINWATER COLLECTION SYSTEMS – AZROU AS A CASE STUDY Capstone Interim Report Student Statement: I, Hajar Serrhini Naji have applied ethics to the design process by using different scholarly sources and citing them, and in the selection of the final proposed design. I have held the safety of the public to be paramount and has addressed this in the presented design wherever may be applicable. _____________________________________________________ Hajar Serrhini Naji Approved by the Supervisors: _____________________________________________________ Dr. N. Nisar Sheikh _____________________________________________________ Dr. H. Darhmaoui 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank the supreme power of Allah for guiding and giving me strength and serenity when needed. Second, this work was only possible thanks to the effective supervision of both Dr. N. Nisar Sheikh and Dr. Hassan Dahmaoui who were my professors in previous classes and have agreed to take on the responsibility of guiding me through my end of studies project. I am very grateful for their efforts and guidance throughout this project. I would also like to express my gratitude to some of my AUI professors who agreed to discuss with me matters related to their field of expertise: Pr. Moulay El Hassan El Azhari and Pr. Anas Bentamy. I am also extremely grateful for the help offered by Mr. Hassain Keddis, director of the office ONEE Azrou for providing me with all necessary information and raw data to conduct my research. Most importantly, I am thankful for my family’s support: my mother for her presence, her strong spirit, inspiring ideas and warm hugs filling me with energy when I am tired or frustrated, my father for his enthusiasm and passionate discussions we had about the project even after a long day at work, my little angel Aya for her caring and cheering, my brother Zakariae for showing support in his own sarcastic way, my sister Kaoutar for her technical help and continuous support and Rahma for staying up long working nights with me. I am also grateful for all my friends who helped with their expertise or motivation. It was a pleasant journey thanks to them. 3 ABSTRACT Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is an ancient practice that came back to application in recent years as it is found in literature review that the trend of adoption is increasing. RWH could present one of the solutions to mitigate water scarcity, but the financial viability of any implemented system is crucial. This document has been produced to assess the effectiveness of rainwater collection systems, their economic viability and the impact of implementing them on saving water and relieving water stress. Azrou is chosen as a case study with two sites of implementation: apartment buildings and villas. The paper analyses the feasibility of the two projects and compares their economic viability. New innovative ideas are necessary to adapt the nature of the building to RWH systems as will be explored in the case of apartment buildings. Apartments buildings offer a low cost solution compared to villa buildings with initial investments of 4,140 Dhs and 8,340 Dhs respectively. This influences the price per m3 for rainwater harvested to be lower for apartments: 6.38 compared to 10.28 for villas and to 7.39 for municipal water at average consumption tranche. However, villa buildings are more viable for having a larger roof, more yield water and for moving the water bill from selective billing to progressive billing. They both have approximately the same payback period: around 8.8 years. Nevertheless, the Net Present Value at the end of the project lifespan is 9,359 Dhs for villa building and 3,317 Dhs for apartments. This project has a great environmental impact thanks to the possible water savings that could relieve stress from primary sources. Water savings can attain 121,954 m3 per year if it were implemented to the residential area of Hay Essalama and Nakhil with 2,200 apartments buildings and Hay Atlas with 200 villa buildings. 4 Table of Contents: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 3 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................ 4 List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................... 7 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................ 7 List of Equations ...................................................................................................................................... 8 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ 8 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 9 Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 10 1 Literature review ........................................................................................................................... 12 1.1 Description of rainwater collection systems .......................................................................... 12 1.1.1 Conventional systems .................................................................................................... 12 1.1.2 New innovations ............................................................................................................ 13 1.2 Adoption around the world .................................................................................................... 14 1.2.1 Africa.............................................................................................................................. 14 1.2.2 Asia ................................................................................................................................ 15 1.2.3 Australia ......................................................................................................................... 15 1.2.4 Europe ........................................................................................................................... 16 1.3 The viability of different projects and case studies ............................................................... 16 1.3.1 Financial ......................................................................................................................... 17 1.3.2 Drinking water savings .................................................................................................. 22 1.3.3 Conclusions from different case studies ....................................................................... 22 2 Matrix for good choice of water systems ...................................................................................... 23 2.1 Catchment surface ................................................................................................................ 23 2.2 Water demand and end uses ................................................................................................ 24 2.3 Filters ..................................................................................................................................... 25 2.4 Storage tank .......................................................................................................................... 27 2.4.1 Type of tanks ................................................................................................................. 27 2.4.2 Volume of the storage tank: .......................................................................................... 28 3 The City of Azrou and choice of catchment areas ......................................................................... 29 3.1 Study of the city of Azrou: topography, annual rainfall, area ............................................... 29 3.1.1 Geographical Description .............................................................................................. 29 3.1.2 Rainfall data ................................................................................................................... 30 3.2 Choosing the site of implementation ..................................................................................... 31 5 3.2.1 Possible neighborhoods to conduct the case study ...................................................... 32 3.2.2 Consumption trends ...................................................................................................... 33 4 Decision making and engineering design ...................................................................................... 34 4.1 Buildings type and characteristics ......................................................................................... 34 4.2 Rainwater end usage ............................................................................................................. 34 4.3 Tank volume .........................................................................................................................