Category Archives: Rainwater Harvesting Education

Rainwater Harvesting Education, Sustainability

California Gets Proactive About Drought

half-dome-534768_640Finally, some great news about the California drought!

A recent release from the California State Water Board  (also shared by ARCSA) announced a $30 million grant to be awarded to 30 school districts for education on stormwater capture and conservation.

The drought response outreach program (DROPS) for schools was established by the California State Water Board and will include on campus rainwater collection systems, bio swales,water wise landscaping along with education of conservation.

Education, including hands on experience, will help students understand the importance of conservation and how to plan for tomorrow. California Governor Brown and the State Water Board clearly understand that the time is now to do something about future water availability. Proactive response to a 4 year drought has been implemented. Let’s hope other states, including Washington State, take notice and follow with their own programs.
Rainwater Harvesting Education

Washington State Should Offer Education on Rainwater Collection & Conservation Methods

Is it too controversial to say that Washington State has the opportunity to show others how to plan for drought?

girl in rainCalifornia failed to see the possible long term effects of an extended drought and now water supplies at current levels are not sustainable, even with a 25% reduction in usage. It is pretty obvious that California and other states should have taken conservation measures more seriously and swiftly early on. Simply hoping for rain with little emergency declarations until a drought becomes a crises, is not the solution. Conservation measures before the crisis becomes too big is the possibility here for Washington.

With the declaration of a drought emergency, Governor Inslee has asked the legislature for $9.5 million in drought relief funding.

According to the Department of Ecology May 2015:

Ecology has proposed using the drought relief money in the following ways:

  • $3.896 million for public agricultural irrigation projects water leasing and/ or acquisition.
  • $2 million to municipal water utilities for emergency drought funding.
  • $1.187 million to WDFW for salmon and trout protection.
  • $2.2 million for Yakima emergency well pumping mitigation.
  • $187,000 to hire temporary state staff to respond to the drought emergency.
  • $100,000 Stream Flow Monitoring.
  • $25,000 Conservation Education.

Unfortunately this response is “putting out the fire” but what about future droughts? We could keep drilling and hoping for rain, or we could be proactive by allocating more than $25,000 in education. A good place to start would be education of our legislature on rainwater collection and how our state could encourage rainwater collection and known conservation methods. Our legislature could listen to industry leaders from the national association (ARCSA) American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association, on the benefits of rainwater collection. Enact legislation that can reduce residential and commercial demands of our centralized water systems. Offer incentive programs that have some teeth, and that really can make a difference.

Education at the state government level about rainwater collection and conservation methods that the state could enact would be money well spent for the future.

Rainwater Harvesting Education

Is Drinking Rainwater Bad for Us?

water-686917_640Although rainwater is generally considered clean, it can carry microbial and viral contamination generally caused by birds, rodents and insects. However, rainwater is relatively easy to filtrate and disinfect, resulting in improved quality over other drinking water supplies.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the quality of public drinking water, but not private systems. The treatment of rainwater should be equal to that of surface water. All collected rainwater used for potable supply must be treated effectively to minimize risk of human health hazards. Contaminates need to be removed by filtration and sorption, or inactivated by disinfectant.

Both organic and inorganic contaminants need to be considered in design and installation of a rainwater collection system. Microbial and viral contamination in a rainwater collection system can be reduced by proper collection techniques such as screening, first flush devices, or vortex filters before storage. Environmental contaminants such as pesticides, fertilizers, and hydrocarbons should be considered, too. Raw water testing from the downspout at time of design will insure proper filtration in the treatment train, if needed.

Raw water should be tested to ensure that a RWC system is designed to produce high-quality potable water and tested after installation to be sure that the filtration and disinfection system is effectively removing any contaminants of concern.

To ensure that a RWC system is producing high-quality water, testing must be done. The EPA and local health agencies specify methods to analyze drinking water. Laboratories that conduct these tests are certified and governed by regulatory agencies. It is recommended that collected rainwater intended for single family domestic use be tested once per year for bacterial and any other constituents that are a concern.