Category Archives: Sustainability

Rainwater Catchment, Sustainability

Will Seattle See a Shortfall of Water Next Summer?

watering-791312_640Annual rainfall for one year to date is only 1″ below average in Seattle. But, an expected warmer winter will mean a low snowpack for water reserves next summer. With already low levels in our reservoirs and less snowpack, the answer to the shortfall question could be yes.

seattle monthly precipitationThe reservoirs are much lower than usual going into the wet season this autumn.  If we do not see a significant snowpack to replenish reserves during the spring, an already low water level will be stressed even more than this year.

RainBank customers are recognizing that having a rainwater collection system designed and installed by a professional will help ensure that their households will have enough available water for next summer.

Underground Tank Construction3An average 2,000 square foot home in Seattle will yield over 44,000 gallons of water annually from the roof. Storing enough of this yield to get through the dryer summer months does not have to be large scale. A household using 120 gallons per month would require approximately 10,000 gallons to see them through the dry season AND that’s for whole house usage. Toilet and laundry facility uses approximately 48% of household demand requiring one half of that amount of storage.

A well-designed water catchment system can ensure enough water to get through next summer’s expected drought.

Rainwater Catchment, Sustainability

Do Washington Water Districts Take Drought Conditions Seriously?

seattle-870282_640Even with the recent rains, drought conditions still persist with water shortages in Western and Eastern Washington.

Saving Water Partnership is a group of local water utilities including Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett Public Utilities, that has been campaigning through television public service announcements, asking customers to “reduce shower times, only do full loads of laundry and dishwashing and fix leaky faucets”. Efforts have reduced water consumption an average of 14%.

Seattle Public Utilities offers rebates in limited areas of Seattle for rain gardens and small rainwater collection irrigation systems through the RainWise program. City of Tacoma offers rebates up to $2,000 to eligible homeowners in two water districts. Everett Public Utilities offers training workshops on rain gardens and rain barrels.

Other cities throughout the country are taking water conservation to the next level.

Saint Paul’s Lowertown Regional Ballpark (currently under construction to be home to the St. Paul Saints) will harvest rainwater for indoor use—Minnesota’s first such municipal project. (See video)

RainBank Rainwater Systems shared information about a rainwater pilot project in Albuquerque New Mexico that now is underway.

The city of San Marcos Public Works Department has been offering up to $5,000 for installations of rainwater collection systems to homeowners and commercial properties as much as $20,000

King County Health Department allows rainwater collection for potable use. Snohomish and Pierce counties do not. The Saving Water Partnership web site says nothing about rainwater collection. It’s time for these water districts to take water shortages seriously and follow examples of other progressive cities that are recognizing the value of investing in rainwater collection and begin promoting how to prevent future water shortages.

Potable, Rainwater Catchment, Sustainability

Community Rainwater Harvesting

Community rainwater harvestingBhagwati Agrawal has been named a 2015 Top 10 CNN Hero. Voting for CNN Hero of the Year takes place through Sunday, November 15. All of this year’s Top 10 CNN Heroes will be honored during, “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,” Sunday, December 6, on the global networks on CNN.

When he lost his corporate job, Mr. Agrawal decided he wanted to focus his energy on creating a solution to his homeland’s drinking water crisis. Fresh water was so scarce in his community, it needed to be trucked in.

Click to watch a video showing  how his non profit organization, Sustainable Innovations, built a community rainwater harvesting system which captures rain from rooftops during India’s monsoon season, providing safe, clean drinking water to six villages with more than 10,000 people in India’s driest area.

“In many parts of the world, you never think of water. In other parts, you think of water day and night,” said Agrawal, 70. “My mission is to end water scarcity, not only in India, but globally.”

The rainwater collection system is called Aakash Ganga — Hindi for “River from the Sky” – and consists of a network of rooftops, gutters, pipes and underground reservoirs that collect and store monsoon rains, which fall from July to September. By saving this rainwater, 6 villages have potable water all year long.

Read more at CNN