Collaborative Research: Analysis of Decentralized Harvested Rainwater Systems using the Urban Water Infrastructure Sustainability Evaluation (uWISE) Framework

1236660(Apul)。美国目前的城市水利基础设施状况不佳，能源密集型，资金严重不足，而且由于城市扩张而过度扩张。迫切需要制定一条通往未来可持续水基础设施的有效途径，其中包括对供水、卫生和雨水管理的理解和相互作用，以及这些做法对可持续性指标的影响。该项目设想，水利基础设施的权力下放将在创造这种未来可持续和有弹性的城市环境方面发挥重要作用。分散式雨水收集系统(RWH)是本项目的重点。它们在冲厕所中的使用不仅可以减少对饮用水供应的需求，还可以减少雨水径流量。此外，该技术已经成熟，很容易在新开发项目和现有建筑存量中实施。因此，RWH被定位为迈向分散的城市水管理范例的可行和有前景的第一步。该项目将开发一个新的、可扩展的可持续性建模和分析框架，称为城市水基础设施可持续发展评估(UWISE)。UWISE框架将用于分析收集的雨水用于冲洗厕所的水基础设施配置，并在一套稳健的可持续发展指标方面将其与集中式城市水基础设施替代方案进行比较。UWISE框架将动态城市分水岭建模与建筑和分水岭规模的生命周期评估结合在一起，并考虑到可扩展性。这个项目的另一个方面是它对期望价值分析的发展。该方法使用贝叶斯统计来确定创造可持续成果所需的系统设计参数空间。通过参与跨院校的研究活动，将培训两名博士生，其中一名将获得课程开发和大学教学的第一手经验。研究成果将被整合到托莱多大学和犹他大学的土木工程课程中。合作远程学习环境将用于提供一门新的可持续城市水基础设施研究生课程，两所大学的学生将合作完成一个综合基础设施可持续发展项目，使用uWISE和其他项目成果。研究结果将通过我们在俄亥俄州西北部和犹他州的现有合作与当地利益相关者共享。结果还将通过同行评议的出版物、会议报告以及通过ASCE、ISI和USGBC在全国范围内推广。具体地说，将纳入项目成果，以加强LEED建筑评级系统和可持续基础设施(ISI)环境TM评级系统。

1236660 (Apul). The current urban water infrastructure in the U.S. is in failing condition, energy intensive, largely underfunded, and being over-extended by urban sprawl. There is an urgent need to chart an effective pathway to future sustainable water infrastructure that integrates the understanding and interactions of water supply, sanitation, and stormwater management and implications of these practices on sustainability metrics. This project envisions that decentralization of water infrastructure will play an important role in creating such future sustainable and resilient urban environments. Decentralized rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems are the focus of this project. Their use in toilet flushing has great potential to not only reduce the demand on potable water supply but also reduce stormwater runoff volumes. In addition, the technology is mature and fairly easy to implement in new development and in existing building stock. Thus, RWH is positioned as a feasible and promising first step towards a decentralized urban water management paradigm. This project will develop a new and extensible sustainability modeling and analysis framework, called Urban Water Infrastructure Sustainability Evaluation (uWISE). The uWISE framework will be applied to analyze water infrastructure configurations where harvested rainwater is used to flush toilets and compare it to the centralized urban water infrastructure alternative in terms of a robust set of sustainability metrics. The uWISE framework couples dynamic urban watershed modeling with life cycle assessment at both building and watershed scales with extensibility in mind. Another aspect of this project is its development of the ?desired value analysis? approach, which uses Bayesian statistics to determine the system design parameter space necessary for creating sustainable outcomes. Through involvement in cross-institution research activities, two PhD students will be trained, one of which will gain first-hand experience in curriculum development and college teaching. Research results will be integrated in University of Toledo and University of Utah civil engineering courses. A collaborative distance learning environment will be used to offer a new graduate course in Sustainable Urban Water Infrastructure, in which students from the two universities will work together in completing an integrated infrastructure sustainability project using uWISE and other project results. Research results will be shared with local stakeholders using our existing collaborations within Northwest Ohio and Utah. Results will also be outreached nationally using peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and via ASCE, ISI, and USGBC. Specifically, incorporation of project outcomes to enhance the LEED building rating system and the Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) EnvisionTM rating system will be pursued.