UTILISING RAINWATER FOR NON-POTABLE

DOMESTIC USES AND REDUCING PEAK URBAN

RUNOFF IN MALAYSIA

AHMAD JAMALLUDDIN BIN SHAABAN

National Hydraulics Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM)
Km 7 Jalan Ampang
68000 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
e-mail: [email protected]

ADHITYAN APPAN
HYFLUX (S) Pte Ltd
40 Changi South Street 1
Singapore 486764
e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Rapid socio-economic development has begun to put a strain on Malaysias water supply and drainage
facilities. This strain came to the fore on the back of the 1998 drought induced water shortages which brought
unpleasant water supply disruptions for 1.8 million residents in the Klang and Langat Valley. This drought
event jolted the nation to explore alternative water resources such as rainwater for conserving the public
water supply. Similarly rapid urbanisation which brought an increase of impervious areas and reduction of
natural storages has increased urban peak runoff, burdening city drainage systems and compounding city
flash flood problems. Consequently, NAHRIM embarked on a study on rainwater harvesting and utilisation
system (for non-potable household use), coupled with detention storage (to reduce peak storm runoff), for a
double storey terrace house at Taman Wangsa Melawati, Kuala Lumpur.

The rainwater system comprises of gutters, downpipes, first flush storage, rainwater cum detention storage
tank, a pump, a roof tank and separate distribution pipes. The rainfall and runoff from the roof are measured
and the non-potable water use of the house occupants is also metered. Sizing of the storage tank is done
taking into consideration reliability of the delivered water, roof catchment area and space constraints in the
house compound. The economic aspect of the system such as unit cost of rainwater is also determined. The
rainwater quality in the storage tanks are compared with the piped public water, WHO Drinking Water
Guideline and the Interim National River Water Quality Standard.

The new Urban Stormwater Management Manual developed by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage
(DID) is referred to in the design of the detention storage. The effect of the rainwater cum detention storage
system when extended to every house in the housing area with regard to peak runoff reduction for a selected
design storm is also investigated.

1
1. INTRODUCTION

Annually water resources in Peninsular Malaysia originating from rainfall is abundant at

2470 mm or 324 billion m3 compared to 10.8 billion m3 per annum consumed for domestic,

industry and agriculture purposes. Even then, water supply disruptions due to a tight water

supply demand situation aggravated by a lack of rainfall over catchment areas coupled with

river pollution problems at the water intakes, do occur, as in the 1998 drought which brought

unpleasant water supply disruptions for some 1.8 million Klang and Langat Valley residents.

This drought spurred Government interest in rainwater harvesting and utilization. On 7 May

1998 the Minister of Housing and Local Government expressed the Governments interest for

houses to be designed for collecting rainwater. In 1999, the Ministry of Housing and Local

Government produced a Guideline on Installing a Rainwater Collection and Utilization

System.

In support of the current interest in rainwater harvesting NAHRIM, through collaboration

with other government agencies and universities, embarked on R&D regarding rainwater

utilization (for domestic, office and mosque complex, industry and agriculture use) and

runoff reduction. This paper is focused on a current study carried out by NAHRIM for a

double storey terrace house located at Taman Wangsa Melawati, Kuala Lumpur (Figure 1) on

utilising rainwater for non-potable household use and also reducing peak storm runoff.

2. RAINWATER SYSTEM

The rooftop has cement tiles and has a roof area of 60 m2. The rainwater is conveyed from

the rooftop to the storage tanks via PVC gutters and pipes. Rainwater from the rooftop is

2
usually contaminated with dirt, bird droppings, leaves, etc. The first flush of rainwater from

the roof surface is directed into the first flush tank of 200 litres to filter out these materials

from the rainwater before it is stored in the ground floor storage tanks.

For the 1st phase of the study, two black High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) tanks with a

2500 liter capacity each were installed as storage tanks. The water use and quality are

monitored over one year. In the 2nd phase, these two black HDPE tanks are replaced with a

better storage tank design taking into consideration the aesthetic and utility aspects. It is a

brick storage tank of 5000 litres capacity and the space above the tank is used as a childrens

play area and also for drying clothes (See Figures 2a, 2b and 2c). 3300 litres of storage is

allocated for rainwater reuse (bottom portion), while 1700 litres is for detention storage (top

portion). A 1.0 horsepower electric pump with minimum head of 12 m was installed to pump

water from the ground storage tank to the roof rainwater tank. This tank was installed on the

roof in addition to the existing potable water roof tank that is a mandatory requirement. The

additional tank has a separate rainwater supply for non-potable household use. The study

house also has a separate plumbing system to cater for the rainwater usage. Since rainwater

was to be used for non-potable use, the plumbing system was installed in such a way that

there was a bypass connection for each flushing cistern. In case of water shortage or non-

availability of rainwater, the public water supply can be switched on. The rainwater

plumbing system was also connected to the washing machine pipe and pipe for general

cleaning.

3
3.0 WATER USE AND SIMULATION MODEL

The house under study has two adults and four school going children. The house has three

bathrooms. The amount of rainwater used for facilities was monitored manually installing

mechanical water meters in each facility. Readings were taken and recorded manually. The

water use figures obtained are comparable with water use figures from literatures and

specifications of the respective products.

Table 1 shows average water use for facilities using rainwater based on twelve months data.

Since there was no treatment of the rainwater collected, therefore it is strictly used for toilet

flushing, general washing and washing clothes.

Table 1: Rainwater Use for various facilities

Average Average
Item daily use Monthly use %
(litres) (litres)

Washing clothes 300 9000 66

Toilet Flushing (3 W.Cs) 90 2700 20

General Cleaning 65 1950 14
(including car and
motorcycle washing)
TOTAL 455 13650

Monthly Rainwater use: 13,650 liters

Monthly water use (from public water supply): 27,000 liters
Total Monthly Household Water Use: 40,650 liters

From the above, household use for non-potable purposes using rainwater constitutes 34% of

the total monthly household water use.

4
A simulation model was developed and used to check on the reliability of the rainwater

harvesting system based on the 5 m3 (HDPE rainwater storage tank) and 3.3 m3 (brick

rainwater cum detention storage tank) storages allocated for rainwater reuse respectively and

water demand of 455 litres/day. The start-up screen of the simulation model is shown in

Figure 3. The model was run using daily rainfall data from Department of Irrigation and

Drainage (DID) Ampang, Malaysia for the years 1983 to 1997. Selected rainfall

characteristics at DID Ampang are tabulated below:

1. The average annual rainfall 2,542 mm

2. The highest daily rainfall 166 mm
3. The longest period without rain 29 days
4. Average period without rain 15 days

Using the simulation model, the reliability of the system was found to be 65.5% and 61.4%

for storages of 5 m3 (HDPE tank) and 3.3 m3 (brick tank) respectively and water use of 455

litres/day. Increasing the roof top catchment to 100 m2 (utilizing the roof top for the back

portion of the house at 40m2) would increase the reliability to 81.5% (HDPE tank) and 75.3%

(brick tank) respectively. Figure 4 shows the plot for Reliability (%) of the system for 60 m2

and 100 m2 Roof Catchment Areas versus various Storage Tank sizes.

4.0 ECONOMIC ASPECTS

4.1 System Cost

a) The cost of the HDPE rainwater system is given below (system costs include supply and
installation and vary depending on the type of materials used):
Unit Amount (RM)

Gutter (uPVC) 150.00

Conveyance System 200.00
Plumbing works 400.00
Water tank (top) 1 No 200.00
Water tank (ground) 2500 liters capacity 2 Nos 1,000.00
Water pump (electrical) 750.00

5
 TOTAL RM 2,700.00

b) The system cost for the rainwater cum detention storage system (brick tank) is given
below:
Unit Amount (RM)

Gutter (uPVC) 150.00

Conveyance System 200.00
Plumbing works 400.00
Water tank (top) 1 No 200.00
Brick tank (ground) 5000 liters capacity 1 No 2,600.00
Water pump (electrical) 750.00

TOTAL RM 4,300.00

4.2 Maintenance of the system

Maintenance included cleaning of the rainwater collection system and chemicals to prevent

mosquito breeding in the storage tank.

4.3 Unit Cost of Rainwater

Unit Cost of rainwater was determined as follows:-
a) HDPE tanks
C - Initial Capital Cost (in Malaysian Ringgit, RM)
N - Expected system life (in years)
C = RM 2,700
N = 20 yrs

C/N = RM 135.00
Operating Cost (annual) = RM 53.00
Total Annual Cost = RM 188.00

Yield = 109 m3
Unit Cost of Rainwater = Total Annual Cost/yield
= RM 1.72/m3

b) Rainwater cum detention storage tank (Brick tank)

C = Initial Capital Cost (in Malaysian Ringgit, RM)
N = Expected system life (in years)
C = RM 4,300.00
N = 20 yrs

C/N = RM 215.00
Operating Cost (annual) = RM 53.00
Total Annual Cost = RM 268.00

Yield = 102 m3
Unit Cost of Rainwater = Total Annual Cost/yield

6
 = RM 2.63/ m3

The Water Supply Department charges piped water for domestic households at the rate of

RM 1.70 for water consumption of up to 35 m3 per household per month.

It can be seen that the unit cost of rainwater at RM 1.72/m3 (using HDPE tanks without

detention storage) is comparable with the piped water cost of RM 1.70/m3. However for the

rainwater cum detention storage system the unit cost of the rainwater at RM 2.63/m3 is much

higher than the piped water. As practiced in Japan and elsewhere, the Government may need

to provide subsidies to encourage the public to install rainwater cum detention storage

systems.

5.0 WATER QUALITY ASPECTS

Samples of the quality of rainwater collected in the storage tanks are analysed and compared

with World Health Organisation (WHO) Drinking Water Quality Guidelines and Interim

National River Water Quality Standards for Malaysia (CLASS 2B) as shown in Table 2. The

results show that the pH which ranges from 6.26 to 6.62 (HDPE tanks) and 6.96 9.09 (for

brick tank) is reasonable. The hardness at between 8.6 to 32.6 (HDPE tanks) is low. The

manganese (HDPE tanks) and iron contents (HDPE and brick tanks) are low as well. Toxic

metals such as cadmium at less than 0.001 mg/l (HDPE tanks) is below the WHO Guideline.

However, lead at < 0.05 mg/l (HDPE tanks) is above the WHO Guideline. The E. Coli count

at 50 counts per 100 ml (HDPE tanks) and at up to 4.48 MPN (brick tank) shows

contamination from some animals/humans.

7
Table 2: Rainwater Quality in Storage Tank

Interim

WHO National River

Storage tank
Storage tank Drinking Water Quality
Parameters Units (HDPE
(Brick Tank) Water Standards for
Tank)
Guidelines Malaysia(CLA
SS 2B)

pH - 6.26 6.62 6.96 9.09 6.5 8.5 6-9

Sulfate mg/l 1.4 6.8 0 0.51 250
Chloride mg/l <1 250
Silica as SiO2 mg/l 1.2 4.2
Iron mg/l 0.01 0.02 0.01 0.04 0.3
Manganese mg/l 0.01 0.04 0.1 0.5
Hardness as CaCO3 mg/l 8.6 32.6 500
Turbidity NTU 0.44 2.56 0.79 2.24 5 50
Bicarbonate mg/l 4 10.6
Nitrate as N mg/l 0.36 1.52 50
Cadmium mg/l < 0.001 < 0.003
Lead mg/l < 0.05 < 0.01
Total Dissolved Solids mg/l 14 126 1000
Dissolved Oxygen mg/l 2.1 4.2 6.12 15.80 5-7
Ammonia as N mg/l 0.02 0.18 0 1.2
Total Alkalinity as mg/l 4 18
CaCO3
Coliform Count cfu/100 0 230 <1 27 (MPN) 0 5000
ml
E. Coli Count cfu/100 0 50 <1 4.48
ml (MPN)

The rainwater collected proved to be of very good quality. It can therefore be used for

washing clothes, car washing, plant watering, and general cleaning around the house. With

low bacterial contamination the rainwater can even be used for bathing.

8
6.0 EFFECT OF RAINWATER CUM DETENTION STORAGE

SYSTEM IN PEAK RUNOFF REDUCTION

6.1 Land use

The catchment of the housing area is 7.6 ha in a predominantly residential area. The

area consists primarily of double storey linked houses, shop houses, a mosque, a childrens

playground, a kindergarten, roads and parks/lawns. The breakdown of different land use and

the area it occupies is listed in Table 3.

Table 3: Breakdown of Land use in the Catchment

Land Use No of Area (m2)

units (%)
Double Storey House 242 31,504 41.50
Double Storey Shop 10 1,505 2.00
House
Park/Lawn 1 16,691 22.0
Mosque 1 1,414 1.86
Play Ground 1 312 0.41
Kindergarten 1 1,059 1.39
Roads 23,515 30.90
Total 76,000 100

6.2 Topography

Topography in the catchment area is relatively flat. The topography ranges from 67.8 m

above mean sea level (MSL) at the upstream area and 58.8m MSL at the outlet. Ground level

and invert level in the drainage system are measured at site. Drain invert level shows that

certain section of the drainage system is affected by accumulation of sediment. Invert level at

the outlet is 57.8 m.

9
6.3 Drainage System

The drainage system in this area is typically traditional where runoff is being disposed of as

soon as possible. Runoff from the roof flows straight to the receiving drain through gutters

and perimeter drains. Runoff from the roofs and roadsides combined in the road side drains

and later on flow to the main drain at the outlet. Layout of the drainage system, flow

directions and catchment outlet is shown in Figure 5. Drains in the study area are made of

concrete with concrete cover on top of it.

6.4 Brick Storage Tank

The brick storage tank has a total storage of 5.0 m3. To reduce post development peak runoff

to predevelopment level (return period of 2 years), detention storage needs to be provided. In

this connection, the DID Urban Stormwater Management Manual (2000) is referred to for

determination of Permissible Site Discharge (PSD) and Site Storage Requirement (SSR).

The SSR works out to be 1.7 m3 (allocated for detention storage) and 3.3 m3 is reserved for

household rainwater reuse.

The brick storage tank has two outlets for the purpose of storm runoff detention control. The

primary outlet is through a 50mm PVC pipe with a control valve. However, the secondary

outlet is a 75mm PVC pipe without any control valve. The primary outlet is located slightly

above the rainwater reuse storage level whereas the secondary outlet is located 45 cm above

the rainwater reuse storage level.

10
6.5 Simulation of the storm runoff using the Stormwater Management Model (XP-

SWMM)

The XP-SWMM model is used to compare the impact of detention storage provided in

controlling roof runoff from the housing area. Two different scenarios were modeled to

study the extent of storm runoff reduction when detention storage is provided at each house.

In the First scenario, it is assumed that all the houses within the study area are equipped with

the current design of the rainwater cum detention storage system. In the Second scenario, it

is assumed that none of the houses in the area is installed with detention storage. The

comparison is made between outflow at the outlet before installation and after installation of

rainwater cum detention storage system. In this study, only runoff and hydraulic layers are

used to model the surface runoff and perform hydraulic routing.

A design storm having a 10 year return period (T) and 30 minute duration (D) was used to

simulate the flow hydrograph at the outlet of the catchment. Two different inflow

hydrographs to the drainage system were considered. The inflow hydrographs considered are

the roof runoff that has to flow through detention storage and roof runoff that flows straight

into the drainage system. In the case of with detention storage, the reservoir routing was

performed earlier and the outflow from the detention storage serves as an inflow to the

drainage system. The number of houses assumed to be installed with this rainwater cum

detention storage system is 242 houses with an estimated roof area of 14,520m2 (19% of the

catchment area). In the case of without detention storage, it is assumed that the generated

roof runoff hydrograph flows directly to the drainage system. The inflow hydrograph to the

11
drainage system with and without detention storage at the individual house level is shown in

Table 4.

Table 4: Inflow Hydrograph (from Rainwater Tank) to Drainage System at the

individual house level (for Design Storm of T= 10 yr and D= 30 min)

Without Detention With Detention

Time
Storage Storage
(min)
(liter/s) (liter/s)
0.0 0.00 0.00
5.0 2.09 0.80
10.0 3.26 1.86
15.0 4.30 2.60
20.0 1.17 2.65
25.0 1.43 2.16
30.0 0.78 1.70
35.0 0.00 0.95
40.0 0.00 0.24
45.0 0.00 0.05
50.0 0.00 0.01
55.0 0.00 0.00
60.0 0.00 0.00

The result of the simulation shows that the peak outflow hydrograph at the outlet with

detention storage is 2,562 litres/second, while without detention storage; the peak outflow is

2,837 litres/second (see Figures 6a & 6b). The peak outflow difference is 275 litres/second

or about 10 percent reduction of the peak flow. This 10% reduction of peak flow is quite

promising considering that only 19% of the catchment is provided with detention storage

facilities. Further reduction of peak runoff could be achieved by installing rainwater cum

detention storage systems in the shophouses, mosque, kindergarten and parks/lawns.

12
7.0 CONCLUSION

The study shows that the good rainwater quality makes it suitable for a variety of non-potable

uses. The main concern in urban areas is the pH of the rainwater. A low (pH<6) might make

the rain water less suitable for certain delicate cleaning activities, such as car washing, where

the low pH may result in corrosion of paintwork or soft materials. However, after removal of

the rainfall first flush, the pH which ranges from 6.26 to 6.62 (HDPE tanks) and 6.96 9.09

(for brick tank) is comparable with the WHO Guideline for piped water and is therefore

suitable for any cleaning purposes.

In this study the rainwater systems could meet up to 34% of the domestic non-potable

household water requirements at 65.5% reliability (for storage of 5000 litres) and 61.4%

reliability (for a storage of 3300 litres) respectively. The unit cost of rainwater (with

detention storage) at RM 2.63/m3 is 1.5 times more costly compared with the piped water

cost at RM 1.70/m3.

10% reduction in peak storm runoff is achieved when rainwater cum detention storage

systems are installed at all the houses. Further reduction in peak storm runoff could be

possible when the rainwater cum detention storage systems are extended to the shophouses,

mosque, kindergarten and parks/lawns in the housing area. The economic benefits in terms

of reducing the costs of urban flood mitigation works and downstream damage reduction

needs further investigation.

Installing rainwater cum detention storage systems for other buildings/ facilities in the

catchment such as at the shophouses, mosque, kindergarten and park could further reduce the

13
peak storm runoff. Furthermore, the rainwater cum detention storage systems for the park

could be used for plant watering, firefighting and emergency use for the community during a

prolonged drought.

8.0 REFERENCES

Adhityan Appan, 1999. Economic and Water Quality Aspects of Rainwater Catchment

Systems, Proc of the Symposium on Efficient Water Use in Urban Areas, Kyoto, 8-10 June,

pp 79 to 88.

Ahmad Jamalluddin Shaaban et al., 1999. Alternative Water Supply Options: Rainwater

Harvesting, a paper presented in a Workshop on Sustainable Management of Water

Resources, Shah Alam, Malaysia, 20 July.

Ahmad Jamalluddin Shaaban, Zakaria Harun and Jabir Kardi, 2000. Detention Cum

Rainwater Harvesting Storage System for Office Building at DID Ampang, a paper presented

at a Seminar on Integrated Urban Drainage Improvements for the Cities of Melaka and Sg

Petani, Melaka, 5-6 June.

Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia, 2000. Urban Stormwater Management

Manual for Malaysia.

Ministry of Housing and Local Government Malaysia, 1999. Rainwater Guidelines for
Installing a Rainwater Collection and Utilization System.

14
 Peninsular Malaysia

East Malaysia

Study
House

Figure 1: Location of Study Area

15
 Figure 2a: Front View of Rainwater Harvesting cum Detention Storage System.

Figure 2b: View of Rainwater Harvesting cum Detention Storage System from the
front of the house.

16
 Gutter and down pipe from Gutter leading to first First flush tank
roof flush tank

Rainwater cum detention storage tank

View of the Rainwater System

from the front of the house

Rainwater connection for Rainwater connection

washing machine for toilet flushing
1 HP electric pump

Figure 2c: Various components of the Rainwater cum Detention Storage System

17
Figure 3: Start-up and Results Screens for the Simulation Model

18
 120
2
Roof Catchment = 100 m
100
RELIABILITY (%)
2
Roof Catchment = 60 m
80

60

- (Water Demand of 455 litres/day) -

40

(Roof Runoff Coefficient = 0.8)

20

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
3
STORAGE TANK SIZE (m )

Figure 4: Reliability (%) for 60 m2 and 100 m2 Roof Catchment Areas versus various
Storage Tank sizes

Figure 6a: Outflow Hydrograph at the outlet. (With detention storage)

Figure 6b: Outflow Hydrograph at the outlet. (Without detention storage)

19
 MOSQUE
PARK
SHOP HOUSES
KINDERGARTEN

Outlet

Legend:
Direction of
Flow