Tag Archives: decentralized water systems

Environment, Rainwater Catchment

3 Reasons Why Everyone Benefits from Rainwater Collection

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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.

Infrastructure, Rainwater Catchment

Duke Energy Pleads Guilty to Violating Clean Water Act

(AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)In a North Carolina courtroom, Thursday, Duke Energy, the country’s largest electricity provider, plead guilty to 9 criminal violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

According ABC News, “as part of a negotiated settlement with federal prosecutors, Duke agreed to pay $68 million in fines and $34 million on environmental projects and land conservation that will benefit rivers and wetlands in North Carolina and Virginia.”

Prior to the settlement, Duke spokeswoman Erin Culbert told The Associated Press that any homeowner who gets a state letter warning of a tainted well will get safe bottled water from Duke, if they request it. While denying responsibly for the problem, Culbert said Duke simply wants to provide the homeowners “peace of mind.”

RainBank has questioned the safety of our water supplies with the news about Toledo’s water supply affected by a toxic algae bloom – disturbing over one half million customers, and a coal spill in the West Virginia River that contaminated drinking water. The Keystone XL pipeline poses a potential threat of contamination to the Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska. Additionally, it’s being discovered that wells are being contaminated with fracking chemicals.

We can see contamination events are happening more often, which affect our safe water supplies – and provide another good reason to support decentralized water and rainwater collection.

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.