BROOKLYN PROPERTY OWNER OPINIONS AND THE URBAN WATER CYCLE

Typically, more than half of the surface of urban landscapes consists of privately owned parcels of land. Urban buildings and land exchange water with the atmosphere, the underlying soil system, and with adjoining properties, but also with municipal drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. Urban site and building design, therefore, largely determines both the partitioning of precipitation into groundwater, runoff, as evapotranspiration fluxes, as well as the rate and volume of extractions from and discharges to both near and distant surface waters, with implications on the need for urban water infrastructure, water quality, and upstream/downstream watershed issues. Independent site and building design decisions made by property owners, therefore, are important determinants of the urban water cycle. This study presents the results of two surveys conducted in Brooklyn, NY, during the summer of 2006, conducted to assess private property owners awareness, interest, and concerns about lot-level rainwater capture, water conservation and reuse technologies. The results reveal some of the technical, social, and economic challenges and opportunities faced by urban water policy makers researching the cost-effectiveness of a distributed approach to solving urban watershed problems.