Rainwater harvesting in urban areas of developed countries. The state of the art (1980-2017)

Abstract

Many urban areas suffer from water scarcity although paradoxically, a local source such as rainwater is mostly treated as a risk rather than a valuable resource. This change of paradigm is included in the 'integrated water resources management' and 'demand management' approach. The aim of this research is to identify and analyse studies that explore subject matters concerning rainwater in the integrated management systems of water resources into developed countries. The research methodology consisted in a literature review (from the 1980s to 2017) of territorial studies that examine rainwater harvesting in urban areas of the developed countries. To this end, a bibliometric analysis has been carried out in different databases according to the definition of keywords. The results reveal five thematic areas were identified and temporal and spatial differences between some subject matters.