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Dahlia López
ME210 Final Project
April 27, 2017

House Rainwater Analysis Report

Introduction

My house is in a small neighborhood in the northeast side of San Antonio. San Antonio
has a humid climate that gets hot in the summer with mild winters and warm and rainy spring
and fall seasons. The area of the roof is about 1515 square feet, and with the average rainfall in
San Antonio the amount of water produced per inch of rain is 945 gallons. The point of this
project was to try and see if my household could be severed from water from the city through the
implementation of a rainwater collection system, but with the data of gallons used monthly in
comparison to the amount of rain produced it was seen that it wasn’t feasible since my household
uses more water than can be saved from rainfall. Instead, a rainwater collection system was
designed and implemented in order to cut down the amount of water used from the city in order
to save money on the water bill.

Data Analysis
The following table and chart shows the data for the monthly average precipitation totals
in San Antonio calculated from 1934 to 2016 as well as the data we calculated for average
rainfall during the times of drought. This shows how the months of May, June, and September
get the most rain during the year, and December, January, and February get the least amount of
rainfall. The average drought data was calculated by taking 75% of the average rainfall for each
month.

Average Rainfall in San Antonio

4.5
4
3.5
3
Rainfall in Inches

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

Month
Average Rainfall Average Drought Data
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Average Drought Rainfall

Month Average Rainfall (in)
(in)
January 1.76 1.32
February 1.72 1.29
March 1.85 1.3875
April 2.6 1.95
May 4.15 3.1125
June 3.46 2.595
July 2.21 1.6575
August 2.34 1.755
September 3.46 2.595
October 3.25 2.4375
November 2.12 1.59
December 1.76 1.32

The other table and chart illustrate the data for the number of gallons of water produced
both during the normal months and through the droughts compared to the amount of water used
per month in the household. The monthly gallon usage was found using the household utility
bills, and from the bar graph it’s clear to see that most of the time throughout the year, the
amount of water used monthly exceeds the amount of water produced during rainfall.

Amount of Water Harvested Per Month

4500
4000
Gallons of Water

3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0

Month

Gallons per month Gallons during drought Household Gallon Usage

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Average gallons produced Average gallons Gallons used
Month
per month produced during drought monthly
January 1663 1247 2992
February 1625 1219 2244
March 1748 1311 2992
April 2456 1842 2992
May 3921 2940 2992
June 3269 2452 2992
July 2088 1566 4000
August 2211 1658 3750
September 3269 2452 2992
October 3070 2303 2992
November 2003 1502 3740
December 1663 1247 2992

Solution: Rainwater Collection System

In order to try and create complete severance from the city’s water system, the amount of
water harvested from the rain would have to be greater than the amount of water used monthly.
Since this isn’t the case, complete severance is not feasible for this house, but a solution to this
can be to implement a rainwater collection system to cut back on the amount of water used from
the city and in turn save more money on utility bills. The system
created is one that involves a rainwater collection tank (isometric
drawing shown to the right) able to hold water from the three
rainiest months of the year. From the data collected, we know that
May, June, and September get the most rain, so the tank would have
to be large enough to hold 10,500 gallons of water, which is the
average maximum amount of water produced in the rainiest three
months. The storage tank designed is 141”(dia.) x 160”(H) and can
hold approximately 10500 gallons of water. It has a 35” dia.
manhole on the top for access inside the tank, an input pipe at the
top with an overflow pipe opposite it to prevent the tank from being overfilled. There are also
drainage pipes at the bottom of the tank, the second one included in case the other becomes
clogged. All the pipes on the sides of the tank are 12 inches in diameter.
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Conclusion
After the implementation of the rainwater collection system the amount of water needed
from the city would decrease significantly, as can be seen in the following table and chart. It can
be seen that for a few months complete severance from the city water system is actually achieved
and the household is predicted to be completely dependent on the water collected in the
rainwater tank, thus having to pay no utility bills for that month. While the rainwater collection
system implemented wouldn’t create complete severance from the San Antonio Water System, it
does drastically decrease the household’s dependence and therefore saves a lot of money, which
would eventually allow the rainwater collection system to pay for itself. Attached along with this
report are dimensioned drawings of both my house and the rainwater collection tank I designed
that help assist the exploration of rainwater run-off from my house and prove the efficiency of
the proposed system.
Month Water Used Rainwater Gallons of City Water Needed
January 2992 1663 1329
February 2244 1625 619
March 2992 1748 1244
April 2992 2456 536
May 2992 3921 0
June 2992 3269 0
July 4000 2088 1912
August 3750 2211 1539
September 2992 3269 0
October 2992 3070 0
November 3740 2003 1737
December 2992 1663 1329

Post Implementation of Rainwater Collection

System
5000
Gallons of Water

4000
3000
2000
1000
0

Month

Water Used Rainwater City Water