Tag Archives: water

Rainwater Catchment, Sustainability

Is Our Planet Running Out of Water?


Two children drinking water from a park fountain on a sunny day.The Washington Post, using NASA data, is reporting that the planet is indeed running out of water at rates that are frightening.

According to NASA satellite data, on a worldwide basis, morefresh water is being taken out of aquifers than is going into them. This means that our planet’s water supply has hit levels that are not sustainable in the long-term.

“The situation is quite critical,” said Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and principal investigator of the University of California Irvine-led studies.

Of course, the California drought makes matters much worse, as it’s being reported that 60% of current water use there comes from aquifers – and that rate is expected to increase by the end of the year.

Read more from the Washington Post and see the NASA satellite datafor yourself.

Do you know that RainBank is a RWCleader in the Pacific Northwest? To learn more about Rainwater Collection Systems, you can also visit ARCSA (American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association).

Sustainability

How Much Water Does it Take to Produce our Food?

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A close-up of a halved avocado showing the seed and creamy flesh.Have you ever thought about how much water it takes to produce the foods we eat, that are grownin the United States? Manyof these come from drought-ridden California, where water is a vital componentto supportits agricultural industry.

The New York Times published a list, which calculates the average amount of water that is needed to produce an average serving of some of our favorite and necessary (who can live without avocado?) foods.

A cup of cappuccino with cinnamon on top.According to the article, these foods are among the highest amount of water needed:

  • Beef
  • Milk
  • Eggs
  • Rice
  • Almonds

What are the choices? Do we eat less of these foods? Should we seek to eat foods imported from other countries, or should we substitute foods that use less water to produce?

The story also lists foods that require less water to produce, like:

  • Apples
  • Cabbage
  • Raspberries
  • Spinach
  • Sweet potatoes

Click here to see the rest of the artistically, but simply laid out story.

In the end, we have choices. The question is, which are best for a sustainable future?

Rainwater Harvesting Education

Understanding the Life Cycle of Water

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Scenic waterfall flowing through lush green hills under a clear sky.The continual movement of rainfall from the bodies of water, land, and the atmosphere is part of the hydrologic cycle.

The cycle starts with condensation. When water vapor condenses in the atmosphere it forms clouds, when the condensation becomes too heavy rain is formed and the clouds release the rain.

Diagram showing water cycle stages including evaporation, transpiration, precipitation, and groundwater flow.When rainfall reaches the surface it infiltrates into the soil, becoming groundwater. The infiltrated groundwater recharges our aquifers, rivers and lakes. Water that runs off the surface is referred to as stormwater. Water is returned to the atmosphere through evaporation by the sun heating the water, changing it to a gas and it rises into the atmosphere and becomes vapor again.

Depending on soil conditions, the movement of stormwater across the surface can cause erosion and also carry pollutants into our bodies of water. This is why stormwater management is so important. Storm water management practices such as infiltration, or collection, slow down the process of surface water runoff and helps keep erosion to a minimum. Much of the pollutants associated with stormwater runoff are not carried to our larger bodies of water – keeping our natural environment healthy.