Stormwater management toward water supply at the community scale-A case study in northern Taiwan

Adaptation measures are necessary for reducing the impacts of extreme climatic events, especially at the community scale. Constructed wetlands and rainwater harvesting systems are commonly used as on-site water supply systems for distributed adaptation. The purpose of this study is to build a community water supply model and to evaluate the performance of low impact development (LID) modules as water supply facilities. The community water supply model simulates four water balances, namely, household storage, the constructed wetland, the rainwater harvesting system, and paddy fields. Three performance indicators are utilized, namely, the water saving efficiency, tolerance duration, and water use efficiency. The results show that the rainwater harvesting system saves up to 25.8% of the total domestic water demand, and the constructed wetland saves up to 40% of the irrigation water demand in Xingshi Village, located in northern Taiwan. In conclusion, the constructed wetland and rainwater harvesting system are good candidates for on-site water supply systems at the community scale. However, constructing a community water supply system requires more study, including a climate change risk assessment and the optimization of adaptation measures.