School of Civil Engineering, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL, UK.
J Environ Manage. 2023 Dec 15;348:119167. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119167. Epub 2023 Oct 12.
Access to water for irrigating amenity landscape and public gardens is under intense pressure due to the rising competition for water between different sectors, exacerbated by increased drought risk and climate change. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) has the potential to reduce the economic impacts of restrictions on irrigation abstraction in dry years and to build resilience to future water shortages. This study investigated the hydrological viability of RWH for the landscape and public garden sector based on an analysis of five Royal Horticultural Society gardens. A RWH model was developed and combined with on-site observations, key informant interviews and GIS analyses, to estimate irrigation demands and the volumes of harvested rainfall for contrasting agroclimatic years. The results showed that gardens located in wetter regions and with low irrigation water demand to harvestable area ratio had a higher RWH potential and could almost exclusively rely on rainwater to meet irrigation demand, even in dry years. RWH potential is more limited for gardens in drier regions where they would require larger areas to harvest rainwater and for storage. Appropriately designed rainwater harvesting systems offer the potential to remove most of the risk of irrigation abstraction restrictions during dry years and associated impacts on amenity planting quality and visitor experience.
由于不同部门之间对水资源的竞争日益激烈，加上干旱风险和气候变化的加剧，灌溉景观和公共花园用水的供应面临巨大压力。雨水收集（RWH）有可能减轻干旱年份限制灌溉抽取对经济的影响，并为未来的水资源短缺做好应对准备。本研究基于对五个皇家园艺学会花园的分析，调查了雨水收集在景观和公共花园部门的水文可行性。开发了一个雨水收集模型，并结合现场观测、关键知情人访谈和 GIS 分析，以估算不同农业气候年份的灌溉需求和可收集降雨量。结果表明，位于较湿润地区且灌溉水需求量与可收集面积比低的花园具有更高的雨水收集潜力，即使在干旱年份，也几乎可以完全依赖雨水来满足灌溉需求。在较干燥地区，雨水收集潜力更为有限，因为这些地区需要更大的面积来收集雨水和储存雨水。设计合理的雨水收集系统有潜力在干旱年份消除灌溉抽取限制的大部分风险，以及对景观种植质量和游客体验的相关影响。
