As anyone who lives in Seattle can see, there is a massive amount of rental construction happening. With the growth of the South End of Lake Union and the Ballard area, over 23,000 units are expected to be added in the next few years.
A cultural shift in water conservation with simple technology can reduce the amounts of water usage through more effective water management practices. While the “Green Storm Water Infrastructure” or GSI mandates that runoff from impervious surfaces is to be infiltrated on site, other innovative and effective technologies are crucial in reducing the need for upgrading and expansion of sewer and centralized water systems.
Think of the reduction of the amounts of water coming off our roofs into stormwater if we diverted that water to usage such as toilet flushing and laundry facility. This practice could reduce runoff by as much as 50% in high density housing complexes, while saving hundreds of thousands of dollars that would be used to meet the demand.
Bio swells and rain gardens do very little for infiltration during the rainy periods when the ground is already saturated. Rainwater collection used for toilet and laundry facility could be using that water during those months rather than having it overflow, and it would reduce the run off during those periods. The end product would be reduction of storm water runoff, less dependence on city water and its infrastructure, cost savings to the building owner and tenants, better use of our natural resource, while reducing pollutants in our waterways.
Photo: Aubrey Cohen, Seattlepi.com
Ken is a United States Navy veteran, having served on active duty during the Vietnam War era.
A career entrepreneur, Ken created a new business focus with a commercial dive company in Hawaii in the mid 1980′s to respond to and clean up oil spills, oil spill equipment training, service and maintenance for the oil co-op service industry. Ken is passionate about having a positive impact on the environment and is also a founding director of BANK-ON-RAIN (2011-2014), whose mission is to create grassroots solutions for rainwater collection for consumption and agriculture in developing areas of the planet.