Tag Archives: conservation

Is Rain Collection a Trend?

garden-617272_640The rise of the rain collectors may sound like a scary Halloween prank, but it’s a trend not to be ignored.

According to a recent article published on Earth911, more and more folks, from millennials to baby boomers, are learning how, and then capturing the rain, to mitigate higher water bills and help in conservation efforts, largely due to drought, but also associated to aging infrastructure.

Do you know that by capturing one inch of rainfall from the roof of a 1,000 square foot home, it means you could save up to 312 gallons of water (or what amounts to almost eight, 40-gallon baths).

If you want to know how much rainwater you might collect from your roof runoff, browse to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) rainfall calculator, which can estimate rainfall in areas from a couple square feet to several square miles.

Rainwater collection isn’t only for the home gardener.

Businesses are using collected rainwater for washing vehicles and toilet flushing facilities. Schools are collecting rainwater for community gardens and new multi-family construction could collect rainwater for potable use for tenants or homeowners.

As rain collection trends, it can create a confusing frontier of information and solicitations.

If you decide to have a system professionally installed, we encourage you to know whether or  not your chosen contractor has the accreditation and experience needed for a properly installed, potable or non-potable system. Visit ARCSA (The American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association) to search for a designer and installer with the knowledge and experience to meet your needs.

3 Reasons Why Everyone Benefits from Rainwater Collection

20,000 gal residential Bellingham WaAs our population continues to grow in the Seattle and Puget Sound area, demands on our municipal water sources will increase. Costs to repair, upgrade, and expand these centralized systems in order to meet these demands will become more of a challenge.  Here are 3 reasons why everyone benefits from rainwater collection:

  1. Conserves water: 

Rainwater can be collected as a supplementary source or as an alternative to a centralized source. Whether collected rainwater is used for irrigation or potable use, the water savings can be significant for the individual and the community. Over 70 percent of household usage is for irrigation of landscaping, toilet flushing and laundry facility. Depending on collection area and rainfall, whole house demands can be met.

  1. Reduces stormwater runoff:

Stormwater is a concern environmentally as well as economically. The average 2,500 square foot roof in Seattle will yield over 56,000 gallons annually to runoff unless captured and used or infiltrated. Captured rainwater can be used, and then infiltrated passively, rather than carrying contaminants to our lakes, streams, and bodies of water.

  1. Conserves energy:

Any water from a decentralized water system is not processed through a municipal water district where all water is processed to drinking water standards – no matter what its end use will be – such as use in landscaping. Even though a homeowner buys their water for pennies on the gallon, treating water costs a lot of money to process. Most of the costs are absorbed through large users such as manufacturing and farming, however less water being treated at the water districts equals less energy needed for processing and conveyance.

I want to know what you think about how we can all benefit from rainwater collections. Leave your suggestions in the comments section below – or ask me how YOU can benefit from rainwater collection at your home or business.

Water Conservation & Rainwater Collection Lag In Conservation Efforts

reservoir-69214_640Green building, low carbon emissions and solar power have all gotten a lot of press in the past couple of decades. What seems to be lagging behind is water conservation and rainwater collection. All are important for sustainability, but without water, it won’t matter. WE are naturally dependent on water; we cannot live without clean drinking water.

Tap water is relatively cheap – pennies on the dollar. WE pay very little for it due to bulk purchasing from manufacturing and agriculture. We have clean, safe drinking water piped to our homes and all we need to do is turn on the tap without giving it much thought at all.

What goes on behind the scenes is not a concern to most. Chlorine to disinfect along with fluoride for the health of our children’s teeth is all done by our water suppliers. All we have to do is pay our bill every month.

That is changing however; our infrastructure is beginning to show signs of aging. Boil your water alerts are becoming more commonplace. Pollutants are affecting our municipal water supplies more often.

Shortages due to drought conditions have affected many of our western states – the most newsworthy being California, where Folsom Lake,Northern California reservoir has mysteriously run dry, leaving thousands of fish dead.   (Is anyone minding the store in California?)  Washington State is also experiencing the worst drought ever recorded.

Small efforts are being made to get the word out by water suppliers. Voluntary water reduction has achieved a small percentage of actual impact since the drought is continuing into fall so far. Low snow pack is expected again this winter in the Cascades, both north and south. Efforts by water suppliers will be focused on education about conservation, but old habits are hard to break when water is so cheap. Homeowners and businesses can expect increases in prices, but that will have little effect on conservation. Breakdowns in infrastructure, accidental releases, and more contamination will become more common in the very near future.

Private rainwater collection will have the most positive effect on water shortages in the near future. A simple system to irrigate landscaping will save hundreds of millions of gallons of municipal water next summer. Toilet, laundry facilities, and wash down using rainwater collection might make the difference in municipal supply shortfalls. A potable whole house system provides a legal, viable source that puts the owner as being his own purveyor of his or her water source. Rainwater is a clean, reliable water source than can be collected during those rainy periods and stored for dry months.

Progressive thinking on all sustainability efforts is good for the health of our planet, but water conservation and rainwater collection will be the most important.