Runoff characteristics of artificial catchment materials for rainwater harvesting in the semiarid regions of China

Rainwater harvesting is being promoted to solve water problems for agricultural and domestic uses in the semiarid loess regions of China. In recent years, however, the current rainwater harvesting practices are still confined to rural family units to supply household water needs and for very limited supplemental irrigation purposes due to low runoff efficiencies of the limited catchment types and consequently low amount of collected water. The current runoff catchments mainly include rooftops, courtyards, earth and asphalt-paved roads. It is necessary to test artificial catchment treatments to select optimum treatments for large-scale use in the region. This study evaluated runoff characteristics of six surface treatments relative to rainfall amount and intensity and antecedent rainfall during naturally occurring rainfall events in the semi-arid loess regions of northwest China. The surface treatments included two basic types, i.e., earthen (natural loess slope and cleared loess slope) and barrier-type surface treatments (concrete, asphalt--fiberglass, plastic film, and gravel covered plastic film).