Modelling the impacts of domestic water conservation on the sustainability of the urban sewerage system

A computer model was developed to evaluate the impact of various technologies for water conservation in domestic households, in terms of the impact on the operation of downstream infrastructure. These technologies, which include (a) low-flush toilets, (b) greywater re-use, and (c) re-use of rainwater from roof runoff for toilet flushing, were compared using indicators of sustainability to measure water consumption, sewerage-system operational performance and process treatment efficiency. The results demonstrated that rainwater re-use is potentially the most sustainable strategy in terms of the benefits associated with water conservation and reduction in sewage discharges from combined-sewer overflows (CSOs). The benefits were observed without the problems associated with increased sedimentation in sewers during dry weather, associated with other water-conservation strategies such as reduced-flush toilets, greywater re-use and the resultant increase in pollutants from CSOs during wet weather.