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Rainwater Catchment, Residential Rainwater Collection

Swimming Pool Repurposed for Underground Rainwater Collection


Workers installing large septic tanks at an excavation site.7,200 gallons of collected rainwater for household usage has no visual impact for this newly constructed Bellevue home. The homeowner wanted to have a rainwater catchment system to provide water for the toilet and laundry facility, but he did not want large, above ground water tanks interfering with the landscaping of his backyard.

A sunny backyard with lush green grass and surrounding trees.The solution: excavating the old cement swimming pool and placing four 1800 gallon poly water tanks in its place, creating an underground rainwater collection system. All the tanks are connected with a manifold for equalization and supply a pressure tank and filtration in the mechanical room for usage. Solenoid valves provide automatic switching from rainwater to city water if the tanks should run low, but will switch back to rainwater when the tanks receive more water from the roof.

Gutter screens were installed, along with a vortex filter, which will eliminate debris from entering the storage tanks. In the mechanical room, a sediment filter will remove fine sediment, followed by a carbon filter to eliminate color and odor.

With auto switching, the homeowner will never know the difference (other than his reduced water bill) and he finds the underground rainwater collection system aesthetically appealing.

Rainwater Catchment, Residential Rainwater Collection

Contaminated Water At Home


Close-up of a worn, metallic fountain pen nib on a black surface.Do you think contaminated water only existsin developing countries?

The other day, there was a Boil Your Water Advisory in Washington State. According to KIRO News,”About800 residents in Wauna on the Key Peninsulawere 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 systemhad 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 beattributed 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.

Rainwater Catchment

Millions of People Have No Access to Clean Drinking Water


Close-up of a worn, metallic fountain pen nib on a black surface.Throughout the world, more than 780 million people have no access to clean drinking water.

Here in the United States, we use filtered, disinfected water to flush our toilets, water our lawns, and wash our cars. For most NGOs, the focus for clean drinking water is shallow water wells. The problem, in many regions of the world, is that naturally occurring arsenic is found in these wells; arsenic is harmful to bone development.While fluorides are added in trace amounts to most public water supplies in America, high levels offluorides can be foundin shallow water wells throughout the globe andcan cause dental decay. However, the mostcommon threatto drinking waterglobally is cholera. According to the World Wide Health Organization, thereare 3 to 5 million cholera cases with 100,000 to 120,000 deaths per year. It is considered to be endemic in many countries.

Group of people standing in front of large water storage tanks outside a building.Simple techniques of rainwater collection and natural solar water disinfection can saves lives in developing countries. Rainwater collected from the roof and screened before storage comes in no contact with sewer materials or human feces, leaving only bacterial contaminants to be disinfected. This can be achieved as simplyas filling a 1litter, clear bottle with rainwaterand leaving it in direct sunlight for approximately 4 hours or 8 hours in overcast conditions.

RainBank’s president is a founding director of Bank on Rain and traveled to Sierra Leone in 2012 and 2013 to teach rainwater catchment and solar disinfection.