Topic
Rainwater harvesting
About: Rainwater harvesting is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 16613 publications have been published within this topic receiving 123237 citations. The topic is also known as: rainwater collection.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the original measurements reported in 18 publications and derived empirical models to assess the surface runoff from various types of roofs, when roof characteristics and the annual or seasonal precipitation are given.
893 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess the water footprint of worldwide cotton consumption, identifying both the location and the character of the impacts of cotton consumption on the water resources in the countries where cotton is grown and processed.
680 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the world's semi-arid and dry sub-humid savannah and steppe regions as global hotspots, in terms of water related constraints to food production, high prevalence of malnourishment and poverty, and rapidly increasing food demands.
559 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that there are integral constraints imposed by (1) the requirement for mass continuity in each elemental cycle and (2) the relative concentrations of soluble species and liquid water in cloudy air; these factors must be mutually consistent.
Abstract: It is often assumed1–4 that the pH of natural rainwater is controlled by the dissociation of dissolved CO2, has a value of 5.6, and that decreases below this are due to the addition of acidic components by human activity. However, decreases could be due to the removal by rainwater of naturally occurring acids from the air (notably H2SO4 in the natural portion of the sulphur cycle). Consideration of the cycling of water and sulphate through the atmosphere and the amount and composition of sulphate aerosol expected to be scavenged by a given amount of cloud water in remote locations indicates that, in the absence of basic materials (such as NH3 and CaCO3), average pH values of ∼5 are expected to occur in pristine locations. This value must vary considerably due to variability in scavenging efficiencies as well as geographical patchiness of the sulphur, nitrogen and water cycles. Thus, pH values might range from 4.5 to 5.6 due to variability of the sulphur cycle alone. Because of widespread concern regarding the acidification of rain, it is important to understand the factors controlling the pH and composition of natural rainwater. We suggest here that there are integral constraints imposed by (1) the requirement for mass continuity in each elemental cycle and (2) the relative concentrations of soluble species and liquid water in cloudy air; these factors must be mutually consistent.
505 citations