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Sustainable rainwater management may counteract the effects of climate change and
significantly improve the distorted water balance in urbanized catchments. However, despite the
hydrologic advantages of rainwater management, acceptance and willingness-to-pay in the local
society are required. This paper presents an assessment of the financial aspects, i.e., the cost-efficiency
and economic feasibility, of various designs of rainwater management for a small-scale urban housing
community in Lublin, Poland. The research was performed for a housing community covering
approx. 1.38 ha and five multi-family residential buildings. The proposed designs covered rainwater
harvesting systems, supported with extensive green roofs, with rainwater retained in underground
or above-ground reservoirs, used with variable demand for watering the green areas and for under-
ground parking lot flushing. For each designed variant, the investment as well as operation and
maintenance costs were estimated. The assessment of the cost-efficiency and profitability of the
proposed rainwater management systems was based on three indicators: Dynamic Generation Costs,
Payback Period and Benefits–Costs Ratio. The performed calculations showed that only two designs,
utilizing above-ground rainwater reservoirs, could be assessed as economically profitable. Thus, local
communities may be unable to financially sustain investments in sustainable rainwater management,
so it seems that financial support is required.
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