300886 Construction In Practice : Assessment Answer

Question

This is individual work and must be completed separately from your group assignment. For a suitable system related to the given project the following topics:

Low energy transfer lightweight roofing system

"Green garden" facade assemblies for residential flats

Modular construction methods - component construction

Lightweight structural flooring system

Rainwater harvesting system

For your chosen topic, research at least three product options available in the Australian or the worldwide marketplaces. List the advantages and disadvantages of each system. Include a discussion of the likely cost of each product including installation. The intention is that you produce a practical assessment of potential technological improvements to the environmental performance of larger scale residential construction.

Introduction:

The rapid increment in the globalisation along with the growth in the industrialisation is playing a significant role in the scarcity of the water (Ling and Benham 2014). The effect of the weather on the scarcity of the water is immense. The major need for the rain water harvesting is observed primarily in the regions where usually the temperature is considerably high (Morey et al. 2016). The process enables the people to save the rainwater and reuse it in order to compensate the lack of water coming from the traditional sources of water. The rainwater harvesting can be achieved by storing the water from the river or small ponds, but majorly the concept of rainwater harvesting relates to the accumulation of the rain water from the roofs of house or industrial firms (Alderbashi, Collins and Wilkes 2014). In the modern world where the intense growth of the industrialization is observed, the lack of water can be a significant concern for the industries and the society in order to achieve the desired success (Steffen et al.2013). Rainwater harvesting system is a practical and significantly important solution in this case where the water that usually will go away as waste, can be used to meet of the demand of water (Cooper 2018). The paper will discuss bout the concept of rainwater harvesting with precise focus on the installation of the system along with the cost related to it.

Background:

The general need of the harvesting system is observed due to the lack of the water which can be used. With the significant growth in the level of pollution by means of the increment of the greenhouse gases, the world along with the country Australia is facing a genuine need to store the water as the amount of rain is decreasing day by day. The water has significant part in the general household activities and along with that it is significantly important at the industrial level as the process of conduction of the daily activities of the industries has high dependence on the delivery of water. The water restrictions imposed in the parts like Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Sydney, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia is a significant proof that the country Australia is facing an intense challenge in dealing with the demand of the water (Water.wa.gov.au 2018). The statistics shared by the Water Services Board of Australia regarding the level of water shortage was instrumental in portraying the effect of the lack constructive vision in anticipating the importance of storing water for future use (Water Services Association of Australia 2018) The statistics also described the impact of the environment on converting the country in one of the driest nations of the world. Even in the 21^st century, the south eastern parts of Australia was highly affected due to the shortage of water. In the mid-2013, the western Queensland faced significant shortage of water and the same happened in the southeast parts of Queensland and in the northeast of the New South Wales in the following year and continued to affect significantly till the year 2015 (Department of Energy and Water Supply 2018). This forces the people of Australia to focus on the rainwater harvesting systems in order to achieve bit comfort in dealing with such adverse situations.

Discussion:

Maelstrom Filters:

The major product options for the rainwater harvesting systems are the maelstrom filters, Mozzie stoppa and wireless tank gauges. These products are significantly essential for the installation of the rainwater harvesting. The three mentioned items acknowledges three different parts of the total system. The maelstrom filters generally rectifies the rain water with higher degree of purification. The rain water contains a great amount of impurity with it from the different sources and the Ph level of the water is also a major concern for the people in consuming the rain water. In that case the rectification of the rain water will be highly important so that the people consuming the water do not get affected by the impurities. In order to so the maelstrom filters hold significant importance as it purifies the rain water.

The general advantage of the product is that it can remove the unwanted particles down to 180 microns which is at least 5 times finer than the other pre-tank filters. The product has a significant efficiency in water catchment of 96% at 3600 litres per hour under wet condition (Rain Harvesting 2018). The 2mm initial filter of the maelstrom’s on-tank is instrumental in diverting the leaves and derbies. The versatility of the product enables it to be installed in variety of pre-tank locations and along with that it blocks the light which blocks the growth of algae. The flexible rubber couplers for four inch inlet, outlet and overflow makes increase the flexibility of the product.

The general concern of the product is the cost related with it as the product has a price of 289.95 dollars (Filter 2018). Some part of the Australian residents are yet to consider the scope of installing the filter because of the barrier of the price of it.

Mozzie Stoppa:

The presence of the unwanted pests and insects or mosquitos needs to be nullified in order to provide the customers with a clean water and in doing so, the screening process that the mozzie stoppa applies is significantly benefitting for the customers. The product uses a stainless steel screen of 0.955mm which is moulded into a 90 or 100mm male and female PVC fitting (Rain Harvesting 2018). The product produces a smooth and easy cleaning and allows the tank water to have the presence of environment. The flexibility of the products is unique as it has the capability to get fitted to the various 90mm tank overflow outlets and 90mm pipes (Rain Harvesting 2018). The scope of upgrade to the particular product makes it significantly efficient as the technological advancement will have the possibility to get implemented in a much easier manner.

The price of the mozzie stoppa screens is 29.13 dollars (Rain Harvesting 2018). The major disadvantage of the product is that it ensures the entrance of the light and at certain cases it will add detrimental effects with the formation and growth of the algae and other bacteria which will have significant negative impact on the water of the tank. This will generally increase the amount of pollutants present in the water of the tank.         

Wireless Tank Gauges:

The major reason behind the scarcity of the water is the excessive use of the water. The people of the modern world is facing significant trouble with the availability of the water because of their consumption of the water without a significant reason. However it is controversial to state that majority of the people uses the excessive water unnecessarily but there is certain amount people who generally uses high amount of water. Several surveys have contributed to the fact that the mentality of the people in using the water gets highly influenced by the showing of the amount of water that is available for their usage (Cooper 2016). People tends to use less when they have a clear idea of the amount of water that is present in their tanks or reservoirs. This provides a significant solution to the issue of excessive usage of water with the introduction of the tank gauge. The tank gauge is a specific device that is used in case of indicating the amount of available stored water. The product is significantly important for the rainwater harvesting system as it will enable the user to have a close look on the amount of rain water that is getting stored in the tanks. This will also enable the user to use the rain water in a calculative manner. The product mentioned is wireless tank gauge and although the activity of the product is same as a conventional tank gauge but in this case it provides the user the significant benefit of going wireless. The hazardous effects of the wires will be absent in the mentioned product and in that case it will be significantly flexible along with the lesser dependence of the installation in a particular place (Nandurkar, Thool and Thool 2014). This will increase the mobility of the product. The concept of wireless technology will add the additional advantage of operating the device from various regions.

The general advantages of the product will be the simple set up of the device as it only consists of two parts which are the transmitter and the receiver. The transmitter has comparatively easy fitting on top of the tanks and the receiver can be placed at any desired position even inside the house. The range of the signal transmission between the transmitter and the receiver is approximately 328 ft which is 100 in meters (Rain Harvesting | USA 2018). This enables the users to ignore the conventional issue of fixed fittings as the receiver can be operated from different places. The power consumption of the device is unique as the device does not need any electrical connections for the operation. 4 pieces of AAA batteries are sufficient to drive the devices and the battery allotment for both the devices are two each. The product is able to ignore the dependency on the ultrasonic beams as the device utilises a solid float system at the transmitter end which does not rely on the ultrasonic beams. The digital display of the device is also significantly benefitting for the users as it will reduce the amount of errors that are related with the analog display. This will be of high importance in reading the “Empty” and “Full” indicators of the device. The solid float system will not affect the internal parts of the rain water harvesting systems. The device is absolutely perfect for fitting in tanks with a height up to 9.8 ft or 3 meters (Rain Harvesting | USA 2018). The installation of the solid float system is also relatively easy as it can be achieved by a standard 35mm hole saw. The price for the rain water harvesting wireless tank gauges are 19.80 dollars (Rain Harvesting | USA 2018).

The basic shortcoming of the device is that the range between the transmitter and the receiver will get reduced when there will be presence of an obstacle in between the range of the transmitter and receiver. This is a major concern related with the effectiveness of the device as the reduction in the range will have an inappropriate impact on the user’s comfort of having the product.

The above mentioned devices are three of the most important part of the rain water harvesting system as the primary motives of harvesting the rain water like the usage of the rain water for the drinking or the household usage will be significantly influenced from the purification of the water (Boelee et al. 2013). The screening of the water present inside the tank in order to protect it from the impact of mosquito or other insects and pests will be achieved by means of the mozzie stoppa screens (Canter 2018). The excessive usage of the water in the residential places can be reduced by the monitoring the availability of the water by the wireless tank gauges. The mentioned device will also contribute significantly to the customer satisfaction as the characteristics of being wireless will certainly increase the happiness and comfort of the customers.

Conclusion:

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the installation of the rain water harvesting systems is a genuine need for a country like Australia where the repetition of the adverse situations in the form of droughts and dry weathers will be highly affecting the people of that nation. As mentioned above, the concern has a widespread effects and has considerable significance as it relates to large number of deaths as well. Hence with the evaluation of the severity of the mentioned concern, the people of the country must acknowledge the importance of storing the rainwater in order to conduct their usual operations. The evaluation of the applicability of the rain water for the purpose of drinking is visible with the analysis of the maelstrom filters.                      

References:

Alderbashi, D., Collins, J. and Wilkes, J., 2014. Rainwater Harvesting System.

Boelee, E., Yohannes, M., Poda, J.N., McCartney, M., Cecchi, P., Kibret, S., Hagos, F. and Laamrani, H., 2013. Options for water storage and rainwater harvesting to improve health and resilience against climate change in Africa. Regional Environmental Change, 13(3), pp.509-519.

Canter, L.W., 2018. River water quality monitoring. CRC Press.

Cooper, K., X Development LLC, 2018. Rainwater harvesting system. U.S. Patent 9,908,593.

Cooper, K.E., Google Inc, 2016. Rainwater harvesting system. U.S. Patent 9,469,383.

Department of Energy and Water Supply. 2018. Water. [online] Available at: https://www.dews.qld.gov.au/water

Filter, M. 2018. Maelstrom Rainwater Filter - Rainwater Collection and Stormwater Management. [online] Rainharvest.com. Available at: https://www.rainharvest.com/maelstrom-rainwater-filter.asp 

Ling, E. and Benham, B.L., 2014. Rainwater harvesting systems.

Morey, A., Dhurve, B., Haste, V. and Wasnik, B., 2016. Rainwater harvesting system. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, 3(4), pp.2158-2162.

Nandurkar, S.R., Thool, V.R. and Thool, R.C., 2014, February. Design and development of precision agriculture system using wireless sensor network. In 2014 First International Conference on Automation, Control, Energy and Systems (ACES) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.

Rain Harvesting | USA. 2018. Wireless Tank Gauge - Rain Harvesting | USA. [online] Available at: https://rainharvesting.com/product/wireless-tank-gauge/

Rain Harvesting. 2018. Maelstrom Filter - Rain Harvesting. [online] Available at: https://rainharvesting.com.au/product/maelstrom-filter/

Rain Harvesting. 2018. Mozzie Stoppa - Rain Harvesting. [online] Available at: https://rainharvesting.com.au/product/mozzie-stoppa/

Steffen, J., Jensen, M., Pomeroy, C.A. and Burian, S.J., 2013. Water supply and stormwater management benefits of residential rainwater harvesting in US cities. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 49(4), pp.810-824.

Water Services Association of Australia. 2018. Water Services Association of Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.wsaa.asn.au/

Water.wa.gov.au. 2018. Home. [online] Available at: https://www.water.wa.gov.au/