Abstract

In North Africa water is becoming a scarce resource, fragile and unevenly distributed across different areas. Because of
economic and human growth considerations, water demand is continuously increasing. Johns Hopkins University, USA,
states that in 2025 the annual quantity of water per person in Algeria will be less than 500 m3; hence the need to seek new
resources to substitute or complement existing ones. Unconventional resources are positioned well as possible solutions.
These include groundwater recharge, desalination of seawater, water recycling, reuse of treated wastewater, and rainwater
harvesting. Rainwater harvesting is an old method used almost anywhere in the world. The main drawback of this method
is the calculation of the reservoir volume, which is approximate at best. This article presents a novel approach for the
estimation of required reservoir volume as a function of roof surface area, number of household inhabitants, and rainfall distribution.
Keywords: rainwater harvesting, unconventional resources, water scarcity, Souk-Ahras,

Information

Item Type:	Conference
Divisions:	» Faculty of Science and Technology
ePrint ID:	59
Date Deposited:	2014-10-30
Further Information:	Google Scholar
URI:	https://www.univ-soukahras.dz/en/publication/article/59

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