Quality and seasonal variation of rainwater harvested from concrete, asphalt, ceramic tile and green roofs in Chongqing, China

•We examined the quality of harvested rainwater from 4 different roofing materials.•Roofing materials significantly influenced the quality of harvested rainwater.•Ceramic tile roof was most suitable for rainwater harvesting applications.•The green roof was not suitable for rainwater harvesting applications.•Summer and autumn were the more suitable seasons for rainwater harvesting.

There is an urgent requirement to examine the quality of harvested rainwater for potable and non-potable purposes, based on the type of roofing material. In this study, we examined the effect on the quality of harvested rainwater of conventional roofing materials (concrete, asphalt and ceramic tile roofs) compared with alternative roofing materials (green roof). The results showed that the ceramic tile roof was the most suitable for rainwater-harvesting applications because of the lower concentrations of leachable pollutants. However, in this study, the green roof was not suitable for rainwater harvesting applications. In addition, seasonal trends in water quality parameters showed that pollutants in roof runoff in summer and autumn were lower than those in winter and spring. This study revealed that the quality of harvested rainwater was significantly affected by the roofing material; therefore, local government and urban planners should develop stricter testing programs and produce more weathering resistant roofing materials to allow the harvesting of rainwater for domestic and public uses.