RAINWATER HARVESTING AND LEAKAGE REDUCTION AS ALTERNATIVES TO OPTIMIZE WATER MANAGEMENT.

The need for water for life is a reality. With climate change, rainfall patterns are changing worldwide and there is increasing awareness of the need for water collection in society. Any water collected could help to alleviate daily needs and therefore, in this study an approximation of the provision has been determined that could be evaluated for different Spanish cities based on the “in situ” collection of precipitated rainwater. On the other hand, it is well known that supply networks have leaks. The International Water Association (IWA) defined a series of indicative parameters and among them the parameter called Structural Leakage Index (IFE) in Spanish or Infrastructure Leakage Index (ILI) in English, which has been incorporated into Spanish regulations, specifically, the Royal Decree RD 3/2023, of January 10. The IFE/ILI has been determined for the same Spanish cities and what their improvement can mean, also approximately, in water savings by applying corrective measures and sustained plans for repairing leaks and optimizing pressures, reaching the conclusion that they could be taken into account in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]