Rainwater Catchment, Residential Rainwater Collection

What Weather Pattern Will Seattle See This Winter?

ocean-surfWhat type of weather pattern can we expect in the Seattle area this winter?

According to the latest NOAA forecast, “For more than a year now we have been experiencing a ‘La Nada’ weather pattern, with ‘El Niño’ to develop toward the end of the year.” Warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean will trend toward a warm and dry fall and winter across the Pacific Northwest while sending the jet stream farther to the South bringing California much needed wetter weather. This means less snow pack and less lowland rain for the Seattle area.

However the NOAA stats suggest we are not in the El Niño pattern yet, with .46″ of rainfall this last Saturday and a weekly total of 2.18″ this past week. A monthly total so far of 2.90″ is less than the average monthly total for October of 3.24″.

A 2,000 sq ft home in Seattle could have collected 3,613.4 gallons of water from that 2.90″. With an average rainfall of 36″ that same home could collect almost 45,000 gallons. With approximately 12,000 gallons of storage, that home would have a budget of 3,750 gallon average monthly use and enough water stored to supply their summer demand.

Seattle is one of the best suited areas for rainwater catchment regardless of climatic weather patterns we face.

Rainwater Catchment, Residential Rainwater Collection

Contaminated Water At Home

contaminated waterDo you think contaminated water only exists in developing countries?

The other day, there was a Boil Your Water Advisory in Washington State. According to KIRO News, “About 800 residents in Wauna on the Key Peninsula were affected when E. coli was detected in their water supply.” The water system in Wauna is a community well system. The contamination was found during a routine monthly test, but the source of the contamination has yet to be determined.

E. coli has been recently detected in the Mount Baker area. The water system serves about 220 homes. One child died and 2 others got sick in Lincoln County, Oregon last week. In addition, Mercer Island City water system had a suspected outbreak as well. Local restaurants were affected and lost profits due to the scare. Earlier this year dead birds were found in a Portland city reservoir.

There have been 26 contaminations this year – and 25 last year as well. These boil alerts are becoming increasingly more common throughout our country.

Why is this happening? Aging infrastructure can partly be attributed to the cause.  With increased population density and larger demands on our centralized water and sewer districts, rainwater collection and decentralized water systems may be the better answer for Seattle. A small urban rainwater collection system for residential use is easy to maintain and has less potential of contamination if installed and properly maintained.

Rainwater Catchment

Millions of People Have No Access to Clean Drinking Water

earth with water dropletThroughout the world, more than 780 million people have no access to clean drinking water.

Here in the United States, we use filtered, disinfected water to flush our toilets, water our lawns, and wash our cars. For most NGOs, the focus for clean drinking water is shallow water wells. The problem, in many regions of the world, is that naturally occurring arsenic is found in these wells; arsenic is harmful to bone development. While fluorides are added in trace amounts to most public water supplies in America, high levels of fluorides can be found in shallow water wells throughout the globe and can cause dental decay. However, the most common threat to drinking water globally is cholera. According to the World Wide Health Organization, there are 3 to 5 million cholera cases with 100,000 to 120,000 deaths per year. It is considered to be endemic in many countries.

Ken Blair in Sierra Leone, AfricaSimple techniques of rainwater collection and natural solar water disinfection can saves lives in developing countries. Rainwater collected from the roof and screened before storage comes in no contact with sewer materials or human feces, leaving only bacterial contaminants to be disinfected. This can be achieved as simply as filling a 1 litter, clear bottle with rainwater and leaving it in direct sunlight for approximately 4 hours or 8 hours in overcast conditions.

RainBank’s president is a founding director of Bank on Rain and traveled to Sierra Leone in 2012 and 2013 to teach rainwater catchment and solar disinfection.

Rainwater Systems