Performance Evaluation of Water Harvesting Catchments

Abstract

The runoff efficiencies of 14 operational water harvesting catchments were estimated using a small portable sprinkler. The sprinkler method was verified using actual rainfall-runoff data from test plots of various water harvesting treatments at the Granite Reef Test Site. Sprinkler results showed that membrane-type treatments yielded 90-100% runoff. The runoff from properly installed wax-type treatments averaged over 80%. The sprinkler method permitted evaluation of catchment runoff efficiencies without resorting to the time and effort required for large field-instrumentation projects.