Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting as an Alternative Domestic Water Resource in Zambia

Within the last decade, substantial progress has been achieved in the management of centralized water reticulation in Zambia. Characterized by diversified fiscal resourcing, concurrent institutional restructuring and introduction of new players in water governance, the water sector is set to achieve improved reliability on sustainable grounds. However, the threat of underground water pollution resulting from increased urbanization besides the unreliable energy sector presents new challenges for the current urban water. In effect, urban areas are affected by chronic water rationing creating public stress and insecurity which impacts domestic development. While the course of development has meant investment in the extension and expansion of water infrastructure in Zambia, alternative urban water resources are being sought to address challenges of traditional water systems globally. This paper therefore attempts to make a case for the modernization of Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting (RRWH) as an augmenting water resource in the Zambian urban housing sector. Here—in, it is identified as a Low Impact Development technology within the Integrated Urban Water Management framework currently being forged by local water. Based on a desktop literature survey and online questionnaire survey, an argument to support the development of RRWH in Zambia was developed. While literature survey results revealed evidence of economic loss and a growing compromise to public health resulting from inconsistent water supply in the study area of Lusaka city, the online questionnaire survey depicted significant domestic stress due to erratic water supply. Results confirmed that at one time residents observed an average of eight hours of power blackouts which effectively induced water disruption forcing homeowners to engage in various water storage methods which in turn are costly on domestic time, health and finances. A retrospective discussion based on both survey results attempts to present benefits and opportunities of urban RRWH to water sector stakeholders providing recommendations towards the mainstreaming of the practice in Zambia.

Occurrence, polarity and bioavailability of dissolved organic matter in the Huangpu River,China

Dissolved organic matter （DOM） plays an important role in biogeochemical cycles in aquatic ecosystem. To investigate the characteristics of DOM in Huangpu River {the last tributary of the Yangtze River）, surface water samples were collected along the river from December 2011 to June, 2013. The concentrations of dissolved organic carbon （DOC）, the absorbance and fluorescence spectrum of DOM in water samples were measured. Fluorescent DOM in the Huangpu River was decomposed into four components by the parallel factor analysis （PARAFAC）, including one humic-like substance and three protein-like substances. It showed that high spatial variability of DOC concentration was observed in the upstream water compared to the downstream water, and so did the absorbance coefficients of chromophoric dissolved organic matter and the total fluorescence intensities of different PARAFAC components of DOM. Furthermore, there was a large difference between the polarity and bioavailability of DOM in the Huangpu River. Polar compounds dominated tyrosine-like component of fluorescent DOM in all seasons. Tryptophan-like and humic-like substances had more polar fraction in summer and autumn than those in winter, while aromatic protein-like materials had the highest polar fraction in winter. Almost all of fluorescent DOM components were refractory in spring, while less than 20% of fluorescent DOM in average were biodegradable within 4 weeks in other seasons. We concluded that the spatial variation in the abundance of DOM in the Huangpu River is mainly affected by the water discharges from the Hangjiahu Plain and the seasonal difference in polarity and bioavailability of DOM is largely determined by its origins.

Growth and photosynthesis responses of Phaeodactylum tricornutum to dissolved organic matter from salt marsh plant and sediment

The effects of allochthonous dissolved organic matter （DOM） on the growth and photosynthesis of Phaeodactylum tricornutum were investigated. P. tricornutum incubated in f/2 medium was exposed to DOM additives, which were extracted from the plant and sediment samples of a salt marsh in North Branch of the Yangtze estuary, China. During 12 days incubation, the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of P. tricornutum were measured by a Phyto-PAM phytoplankton analyzer. Spectral properties of DOM in algae filtrates were also observed. The concentrations of chlorophyll a, active chlorophyll a, and the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II significantly decreased after four days of incubation, suggesting that the growth and photosynthetic efficiency of P. tricornutum were inhibited. After adding sediment-DOM extract, both a 250 /a 365 （the ratio of the absorption coefficients at 250 and 365 nm） and S values （spectral slope coefficients） of algae filtrates declined in the first two days, which demonstrated a loss of low molecular weight DOM. Parallel factor analysis of fluorescence spectra of DOM in algae filtrates revealed that DOM could be classified into two humic-like and two protein-like components. The fluorescence intensity of tyrosine-like component originating from algae increased significantly during incubation. This study supports the hypothesis that allochthonous DOM derived from salt marsh plant and sediment have a strong influence on the adjacent aquatic ecosystems.