Reduction of mixing in jet-fed water storage tanks

Contrary to usual mains-water practice, mixing in water storage tanks used in rainwater harvesting systems is undesirable because pathogen die-off can occur in the unmixed water prior to its extraction for use. The principal cause of mixing in these tanks is the momentum of the inflow during a rainfall event. We investigate the effect of inflow-jet configuration on the proportion of stored water in a tank which mixes with the slightly cooler inflow of rooftop water. Scale experiments are conducted which show that the non-dimensional height of the mixing front above the jet inlet is proportional to the inflow-jet densimetric Froude number for both single and multi-jet arrangements of various geometries. For each arrangement a coefficient of mixing is found. The results are then used to assess the level of mixing in full-scale rooftop rainwater harvesting storage tanks and determine whether residence time in such tanks is a viable strategy for pathogen reduction. For such applications, a radial manifold of jets outwardly directed from the tank centre is found to be the most promising.