Question

A small family home in Tucson, Arizona has a rooftop area of 1967 square feet, and it is possible to capture rain falling on about 61.0% of the roof. A typical annual rainfall is about 14.0 inches. If the family wanted to install a tank to capture the rain for an entire year, without using any of it, what would be the required volume of the tank in m3 and in gallons

Answer 1

Required of volume of tank = 39.62 m3 or 10471.18 gallons

Explanation:

Total volume of water collected = Annual Rainfall * Useful Area

Total volume of water collected = 1199.87 * 1.1667

Total volume of water collected = 1399.89 ft3

---1 ft3 = 7.48 gallons

Hence, total volume of water collected in gallons = 1399.89 * 7.48 = 10471.178 gallons

----1 ft3 = 1/35.315 m3 = 0.0283 m3

Therefore total volume of water collected in m3 = 1399.89 * 0.0283 = 39.6169 m3

Workings

Useful area = 61% of 1967

Useful area = 0.61 * 1967

Useful area = 1199.87 sq/ft.

Annual rainfall = 14 inch = 14/12 month

Annual rainfall = 1.1667 ft.