www.elsevier.com/locate/jnlabr/yjare Journal of Arid Environments Journal of Arid Environments 57 (2004) 487–505 Quality issues in harvested rainwater in arid and semi-arid Loess Plateau of northern China Kun Zhu a, *, Linus Zhang b , William Hart c , Mancang Liu d , Hui Chen e a Department of Environmental Engineering, Lanzhou Railway University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China b Department of Water Resources Engineering, Lund University, S-22100 Lund, Sweden c Center of Water Resources Studies, Dalhousie University, P.O. Box 1000, Halifax, NS, Canada d Faculty of Analytical Chemistry, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, People’s Republic of China e Department of Chemistry, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, People’s Republic of China Received 5 November 2001; accepted 9 July 2003 Abstract Loess soils cover vast areas in the arid and semi-arid regions of northern China. Due to the lack of reliable surface water and ground-water, rainwater harvesting has played a prominent role in farmers’ domestic usage and agricultural irrigation. An economical and valid type of water storage cistern with optimum design of components has been introduced to rural areas in the Loess Plateau. Different collection alternatives showed apparent variations in rainwater quality. By using different catchments, such as mortar roofs and cement-paved courtyards, compacted land or road surfaces, rainwater can be effectively collected for storage in cisterns. This study focused mainly on the quality of rainwater harvested from the different catchment systems and stored for different periods of time. By analysis of the water samples stored in these cisterns, it was evident that rainwater quality could be improved significantly by self- purification during the storage. With emphasis on rainwater quality affected by the different catchment systems, it was found that the measured inorganic compounds in the rainwater harvested from roof-yard catchment systems generally matched the WHO standards for drinking water, while the concentrations of some inorganic compounds in the rainwater collected from land and road surfaces appeared to be higher than the guideline values for drinking water, but generally not beyond the maximum permissible concentrations. However, Fecal Coliform, which is an important bacteriological parameter for the three catchment systems, exceeded the limits of drinking water to a greater extend. Trace amounts of 55 organicpollutantswereidentified,includingaliphatichydrocarbons,aromaticcompoundsand ARTICLE IN PRESS *Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: kun@mail.lzri.edu.cn, kun@mail.lzjtu.cn (K. Zhu). 0140-1963/$-see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0140-1963(03)00118-6