Saving money and helping the environment are two good reasons why many Seattle residents choose to opt out of city water usage. Whether the application is for potable (drinking) or non potable use, like irrigation, supplementary tanks with even a small amount of storage can help drop water bills by as much as 80%.
Collect 624 gallons of water from 1 inch of rain with only 1,000 sq ft of roof area.
That’s water that you can use for irrigation, toilet flushing, laundry, or even whole house potable (drinking) use. That’s right! 624 gallons. If you have a 1,500 square foot roof area in the Seattle area, this equates to 33,642 gallons of available water. Water that you don’t need to pay for. You can save money on your water, and sewage bill and, over time, pay for your system with that savings. Depending on the application of the captured rainwater, you can supplement your usage through a simple collection system for irrigation or by plumbing in your toilets and laundry facilities. Or, if you choose to have a whole house system designed and installed by a professional, you can eliminate your municipal water usage altogether and have city water as only a back up supply.
Water quality of collected rainwater after filtration and UV disinfection is above that of a municipal water supply, as long as the system is designed, installed and maintained properly. Annual costs of maintenance is much less than your current water bill and is easy to do. Periodic cleaning of your gutters and screening devices along with filter changes a few times a year and replacement of the UV bulb once a year is all there is to it.
A decentralized private water system eliminates the possible threats to your drinking water from environmental concerns, water advisories, price increases, additives such as chlorine and fluorides and possible rationing, such as in California. You are in control of the quality of your water and its use.
Not a new concept, in the past few years, rainwater collection has become wildly popular as a safe source of water for households and businesses in Washington State. As with any industry, know your pro. An ARCSA accredited professional and ARCSA’s NW Regional Representative, RainBank’s Ken Blair has been designing and installing systems for 15 years. The team at RainBank is bolstered by an on staff engineer and plumber. When planning your system, consider RainBank Rainwater Systems to be your one-stop choice for design, water tank and component sales, installation and consultation.
This article was originally published under the title Rainwater Harvesting Lets Seattle Area Residents Opt Out of City Water at RainBank.info
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.