Rain as a water resource in households.

The water resource, energy and economy aspects of rainwater collection are assessed to evaluate rainfall collection as an alternative option for sustainable water supply in Denmark. A maximum of 229 million m3/year of rainwater can be collected from Danish roofs, provided that all possible surfaces are used and all rain falling on the surfaces is collected. This is equivalent to 24% of the total present production of drinking water, which is mainly based on groundwater. From household roofs 64.5 million m3/year can be collected if used for toilet flushing and washing of clothes. This is 68% of the actual demand for toilet flushing and washing of clothes in households and 22% of the total water consumption in households, but only 7% of the total present drinking water production in Denmark. From the society point of view there is neither an environmental nor an economic reason to systematically promote rainfall collection