Benefits of Rainwater harvesting

In Greenwood Residence, the storage vessel that was being used in storing rainwater was a plastic tank. The tank was 40,000 liters and the quantity of water being collected varied in different months since certain months were wet months while others were hot months. The approximate quantity of water collected in Greenwood residence amount to 1,500,000 liters. Harvesting of rainwater is beneficial to the Greenwood Residence since it helps in solving drainage problems, conservation of water and provision of back up source of water for emergencies. The rainwater is also being harvested by the Australian state then being treated before being distributed to numerous household depending on the management made between the household and Sydney water.

The procuring of parts needed during the installation of water supply in households was done by contractors since the contractors know which are the numerous parts that are required when installing the water supply. The effectiveness of water system depended upon the quality of materials procured such that high-quality materials will carry out their functions perfectly and even last long (Memon, 2014, p. 321). There were numerous ways in which the households in Greenwood residence use to ensure the water system is in a good state and these included;

• Proper handling and disposal of waste for example use of local hazardous waste collection program.
• Proper maintenance and use of septic systems.
• Use of green products for house cleaning or personal care.
• Practicing smart agriculture such as mixing chemicals away from the water supply.
• Upgrading the well by hiring a licensed contractor to plug the unused well.

There is a certain risk that may arise from a wastewater system for example flooding which comes as a result of pipe bursting thus leading to death or physical injuries. The installation of a water supply system in Greenview residence was done by a specialized contractor who had knowledge concerning the installation. A serious attention was needed when carrying out the installation process since many workers involved may face physical injuries caused due sliding or pressure from the pipes carrying water (Mays, 2009, p. 76).

In Greenwood residence, the Point-of-entry is one of the technologies that was being used by the household as a treatment means which was being used in treating water line as it enters the residence. The Sydney water is capable of producing 250 million liters of water on a daily basis and is capable of supplementing every household with water accounting to 100 liters. The Greenview residence came into agreement with Sydney water to an annual fee of $129 yearly since the usage of water was approximated to be 60 gallons per person per day (Lancaster, 2013, p. 128)

There are certain issues that are still being experienced in the management of waste

Wastewater Management Challenges

There are numerous challenges affecting wastewater starting from the industry and at the end comes to affect the households living in Australia. They include;

1. Aging infrastructure

Aging infrastructure for example tunnels, pipelines, pumping storage, facilities used during treatment and dams. There is need of updating infrastructure used in Greenview residence so that to ensure the water process is carried out smoothly without any obstacles. When the infrastructures are updated, there will be no shortage of water resulting maybe from the bursting of pipes thus ensuring every household in Australia gets enough water (Provey, 2010, p. 238).

1. Issue of capital

 A new financial management approach would assist to avoid many utilities coming to a stuck in funding methods (Ebeed, 2017, p. 163).

1. Increasing or expanding regulations

When there are tight regulations put in place by the government, many households will find it difficult to adhere to those regulations and also industries at large may be affected leading to poor services rendered to the households.

1. Change in technology

Technological change is an important aspect when it comes to wastewater system though it sometimes interferes with the workers’ morale since it may be complicated thus difficult to implement and cope up with it. Introduction of technology is also beneficial since it enhances the operations of the industry by allowing wastewater system to operate efficiently at a lower cost                 

A water supply in Greenview residence is simply taken to mean a system of engineered hydraulic and hydrologic components which provide water supply. A water supply system simply involves;

• A drainage basin
• A raw water collection point where the accumulation of water takes place.
• The facilities for purifying water. The water pipes are used in transporting the treated water.
• The facilities for storing water and they include water tanks, water towers, and reservoirs.
• Additional water pressurizing components, for example, pumping stations which can be situated above ground reservoirs.
• A pipe network for distributing water to numerous households.
• Connection to the sewers which are generally found downstream of water consumers

Untreated or raw water is taken from water source such as river or lake or from groundwater source within the watershed that provides the water resource. The state of Australia also put strict regulations that the treatment of water must be done in the system. The treatment of water takes place before the households living in Greenview residence acquire the product. The purification of water usually takes place close to the final delivery points to assist in minimizing the cost used in pumping and the chances of water becoming contaminated (Dincer, 2013, p. 129).

Water treatment plants consist of three steps and this include clarification, filtration and disinfection. Clarification entails the separation of particles, for example, organic matter and dirt from the water stream. The particles settle on top of the water stream since they are disturbed by the addition of a chemical, for example, ferric chloride and alum (Pahl, 2009, p. 65).

In Greenview residence, there were numerous ways that were being used in treating water and included;

1. Boiling

Water Treatment and Supply in Greenview Residence

This was the common method I noticed and it is a simple method because it involves heating the water over an open flame for around 10 minutes. The boiling water will remove all oxygen from the liquid.

1. Solar disinfection

This was the simplest method I noticed during the visit since it involved using the sun a source of heat to carry out the purification process.

This involves the use of chemicals which are being added to the water to kill the germs that may be available in the water thus making it safer for drinking. The process of bleaching should be followed carefully since it involves the use of chemicals (Chiras, 2010, p. 287).

Waste management is simply the process by which waste in solid form are treated and it offers a variety of solutions for recycling the items that do not belong to a trash and it is needed by various households. In Australia, there are numerous methods that were being used in the management of waste and they include.

1. Landfills

This is the commonly used method by the households in disposing of waste and it involves throwing waste or garbage that are used on a daily basis into landfills. Due to lack of space in, certain households makes this method less practiced and also they cause air and water pollution which interferes with the environment as well as harmful to both humans and living animals.

Most of the households in Greenview Residence practice incineration or combustion as a way of disposing of waste. Here, the solid waste is burnt at a high temperature so that they can be converted into gaseous or residue products. This particular method is advantageous since it helps in reducing the volume of solid waste and reducing the space they take up.

1. Recovery and Recycling

The recovery of resources is a process by which useful discarded items or products are taken back for a certain use. The discarded products are extracted, processed and converted into energy in form of useable heat, fuel or electricity. Recycling is simply the process of converting a waste product into a new product to prevent the usage of energy and consumption of fresh raw material.

• Avoidance/ waste minimization

This the easiest method of waste management in Australia and it involves reducing the amount of waste going to landfills. Reducing the amount of waste can be done by recycling the old materials for examples jar, bags, repairing broken items, avoid using disposable items, for example, plastic bags and also buying items that have minimal designing (Bratone, 2011, p. 42).

The type of energy that was being used in the sustainable house during the visit was natural gas as well as electricity. The natural gas was being used for home heating while electricity was used for heating, cooling, lightning the house and also running appliances such as computers and refrigerators.  The agreement between the households and the Australian energy was that the electricity bill will be paid based on the amount of electricity used by a given household (Aghajani, 2017, p. 129).

Conclusion

The renovation which took place in Greenview residence is a great improvement otherwise there are certain improvements that are needed within the households and they include; equipping the compound with numerous plastic tanks for harvesting rainwater thus avoid relying on Sydney water. Secondly, there is need of installing solar system to avoid electricity cost incurred monthly and this can also be used in pumping water into the house and also to the farm thus promoting agriculture.

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