Tag Archives: save money

Rainwater Catchment

Rainwater Saves Money in Seattle

statue-5998_640According to a press release issued by Drexel’s College of Engineering, “research by a team of Drexel University environmental engineers indicates that it rains enough in Philadelphia, New York, Seattle and Chicago that if homeowners had a way to collect and store the rain falling on their roofs, they could flush their toilets often without having to use a drop of municipal water.”

Franco Montalto, P.E., PhD, an associate professor in Drexel’s College of Engineering, and director of its Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Lab states, “Philadelphia and Seattle are the two cities where percent water savings would be greatest if residential neighborhoods were all equipped with rainwater harvesting systems.”

RainBank Rainwater Systems has been designing and constructing systems throughout the Pacific Northwest for more than 15 years. Many of our Seattle customers have included rainwater collection as part of new residential construction and retrofitted existing homes. Toilet flushing, laundry facility, and irrigation can all be supplied with non potable rainwater. Whole house usage or potable water can be achieved with proper filtration and disinfection as well.

You don’t need a lot of storage to save money. RainBank Rainwater Systems has designed and installed 3,000 gallon systems that supply an average 2,000 sq. ft. home with 60% of its household use, simply because of the amount of fall and winter rainfall.

Read more from Drexel University Engineering: Here’s Why We Should Use Rainwater to Flush Toilets

Commercial Rainwater Harvesting, Environment, Sustainability

Students Design Rainwater Collection System & Save Money for Business

K5116 Tyler Hammerle Engineering Senior Design Project
K5116 Tyler Hammerle Engineering Senior Design Project

Let’s hear it for the next generation! A team of students in Miami, Ohio designed and built a rainwater collection system for a local business that was looking to save money.

An article in the Miami Student details the story of how, in 2010,  an environmental commission discussion on improved stormwater management at an auto shop led to this project. Once the right student team could be assembled, the venture began in September 2014 with students from The College of Engineering and Computing

With the help of their professor, the students worked on designing a rainwater harvesting system that would reduce water usage through filtration, collection and reuse from the 4,200 square feet of roof at the business location. The collected water is used for washing cars and other cleanup functions at the shop.

K5116 Tyler Hammerle Engineering Senior Design Project
K5116 Tyler Hammerle Engineering Senior Design Project

According to the article, the system has been successful, providing the business with 2,500 gallons of water per inch of rainwater and saving close to $1,000 on water bills this year because city water no longer needs to be tapped for this function.

Congratulations to these innovative students for designing and implementing a cost saving, functional and sustainable rainwater collection design.

Photos by Scott Kissell