Domestic rain water catchmentFor the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce, Environmental Committee

baosol sustainable building consulting www.baosol.com

Andrew Michler LEED AP

(Corny power point graphic here)

Ok, here it comes…

How much water do you really get?

One and a half horizontal square feet of roof

+One inch of water

=One gallon (0.93 gal)

Determine your total by multiplying your home’s foot print (not your roof’s area)

The water is free

It keeps your landscape from being over saturated, and protects your foundation

It is clean, and soft (low salt, high nitrogen)

It can be used for multiple applications

You are using a local and renewable resource

What are the benefits of rainwater catchment?

What are the benefits of rainwater catchment?

It supplements our drinking water, which takes a lot of energy and infrastructure to get to your tap

Your municipality has less storm surge to deal with, (you may have seen a rubber duck race on South Collage Ave lately)

The LEED point system is generous with rainwater catchment and reuse (SS runoff reduction, WE domestic water

reduction, LEED Homes up to 4 points)

What can you do with it?

For starters you can water your vegetable garden (more than 50% of our domestic drinking water is used for the landscape).

Green thumbs will know how to take advantage of this resource.

Do not use water from an asphalt shingle roof on your veggies, yuckDo not store that water in an open container, a mosquito's best friendTry to keep your storage out of direct sunlight avoiding a slime factory

Simple kits for barrels are available, try Eco-Logic on Jefferson and Linden.

Easy do-it-yourself stuff!

So you have a lot to work with.

Think even bigger.

A thousand gallon container will hold less runoff from your roof than you may think.

A house with a 2000 sq ft footprint getting one-half inch of rain will give you 620 gallons of water!

So you have a lot of water to work with.

The bigger the storage the better. New water catchment systems are available that are expandable and take up little space.

Rainwater Hog from down under is a good example of a small system. New systems are coming out all the time.

Future proof your home.

Install as large a system as is reasonable.

Many companies have small commercial systems that are prepackaged.

Keep all the mechanical components accessible and protected from the cold.

A half buried tank will not freeze over, you can put a deck over it.

Prefilter the water with a centrifuge filter or screen.

Future proof your home.

Plumb your house for using this water.

Put in an extra supply line for the toilet.

A line to the laundry cold side.

A hose bib in the front and back of the house to wash the car and feed the landscape.

Outdoor water features can be automatically fed from your catchment system.

Build with extra room for storm surges.

Is it legal?Answer:

Kinda,Sorta,Maybe,Welcome to Colorado!

A better question might be: Will it be legal?

Answer: YES

So future proof now! Even if it is not hooked up at least plumb for it.

My system: an ending narrative.I truck drinking water to my home, so trucking in toilet and garden water was out of the question. The best solution was to take my shops gutter and hook it to a 1500 gallon half buried tank above my home. It was then plumbed to the toilet and an outside faucet. Next project is to send it to the laundry supply. No pumps at all, just gravity.

When I installed this system it was illegal, but the law for rural roof water catchment has caught up with reality.

Resources

American Rainwater Catchment Systems Associationmultiple resources and linkswww.arca.org

National Climatic Data CenterRain water annual totals and mapswww.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/aasc.html

Thank you