Water supply is an essential service to buildings along with other services
such as electricity supply and telephone. Many of the new cities in developing
countries do not have 24-hour safe drinking water in their buildings, and water supply
is often intermittent and is of poor quality. In contrast, developed countries use a much
higher volume of potable water in their buildings, which can be reduced significantly.
In urban areas, sustainability and water efficiency of buildings are of great significance
as many water authorities have been struggling to meet the increasing water demand
due to higher populations. The climate change is bringing more extremity in the
climate systems such as long and frequent droughts and higher temperature episodes,
which increase water demand significantly when water availability is the lowest. This
chapter presents water recycling and reuse in buildings with a special focus on
rainwater harvesting systems in Australia to reduce potable water demand within
buildings. It has been found that rainwater harvesting is one of the most popular means
of alternative water supplies in buildings; however, there are further scopes of
development in the rainwater harvesting systems by bringing innovations into these
systems to make future buildings more water-efficient.
Keywords: Green building, Greywater, Mains water, Rainwater tank, Rain water,
Water supply, Water recycling, Water efficiency, Waste water, Storm water,
Water conservation.
