Tag Archives: drought

Environment, Rainwater Catchment

Are You Collecting Winter Rain for Next Summer?

waterAccording to some predictions, this winter the Seattle area will continue with warmer than typical temperatures. Essentially we could have a repeat of last winter with not much snowpack towards the end of winter. The good news is – we are getting above average of rainfall this December and the trend is expected to follow  throughout the winter.

“There’s a 90 percent chance El Niño will continue through this winter and a 80 percent chance it will extend to early spring 2016″, the National Weather Service’s Climate Center reported.

Rich Marriott, King 5 meteorologist, said “The likelihood of warmer than normal temperatures for the Pacific Northwest. It also means less precipitation but not necessarily less rainfall.”

buried tankWe stand a good chance of seeing a lot of the snow pack disappear before early spring, which puts us in a possible drought condition again next summer.

Collection systems for RainBank customers in Seattle and outlying areas are almost full with some overflowing, thanks to the recent record rainfall. There is enough rainfall that they will be able to continue using their rainwater for domestic use and, more than likely, will go into spring with enough water to last through the summer. 

Last summer, some water districts experienced shortages and were forced to buy water from larger districts. Those who have a sustainable rainwater collection system designed and installed by RainBank Rainwater Systems will be more prepared for these shortages with stored water. tank on truckMost of our designed/installed systems in the Seattle area are supplemental to city water, allowing storage of the collected rain for those times when most needed. 

Are you ready for another long dry summer? There is still time. Contact RainBank Rainwater Systems for a free consultation. 

Environment, Sustainability

Drought, Water, Health and Life

flower-887443_640We at RainBank firmly hold true the belief that access to clean water is a basic human health necessity and a deserved right for all people.

The effects of climate change threaten our supplies of this resource that we simply cannot live without. According to the NDRC (National Resources Defense Council), nearly every U.S. region is facing some increased risk of seasonal drought.

The NDRC also reports “climate change will significantly affect the sustainability of water supplies in the coming decades. As parts of the country get drier, the amount of water available and its quality will likely decrease – impacting people’s health and food supplies.”

According to its website, the NRDC is a U.S. environmental action group, combining the grassroots power of more than 2 million members and online activists with the courtroom clout and expertise of nearly 500 lawyers, scientists and other professionals.

The article Drought: Threats to Water and Food Security discusses how public health will be compromised if access to clean water isn’t always available. Many states including California, New York, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin and Virginia have developed drought plans.

The Untapped Savings In California’s Water Supply offers suggestions on ways to conserve water through rainwater harvesting, water reuse, energy efficient appliances and drought resistant landscaping.

We can all do our part to conserve and preserve water – our lives on this planet depend on it!

Environment, Sustainability

Will Museum Become the Place Future Generations Can Experience Rainfall?

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
Then they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see ’em
Don’t it always seem to go,
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Big Yellow Taxi, Joni Mitchell

lock-143616_640Released in 1970, artist Joni Mitchell hit the nail on the head with this lyric from her song, Big Yellow Taxi, practically predicting the future. A recent NY Times article titled Drought Adds Wrinkle to ‘Rain Room’ Exhibit in California, reports on “Rain Room” an exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which gives visitors the experience of walking through rain without getting wet. Motion sensor cameras pause the water as people walk beneath them, “creating a Moses-parting-the-seas kind of spectacle — the exhibit here is truly novel and timely, a reminder of what is missing in the parched West these days”.

One drought-weary Californian commented on the irony, “The only rain we get is indoors, and it doesn’t hit us, said Ken Bruce, who spread his arms wide as he walked under the high-tech rain ceiling in a mostly fruitless attempt to do what people normally avoid at all costs: get wet. I wouldn’t have minded being hit by some of it”.

Museums typically showcase precious artifacts – often priceless items of historical, scientific, artistic value. Has rain become such a precious commodity that  future generations will only be able to experience it in a museum?