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| By PHONE | 919 832 6303 |
| By MAIL/FAX | Raincatcher |
| Or by EMAIL: | raincatcher@innovativedesign.net |
Over the past decade, the availability and quality of our water supply have become issues of great concern. Both demand and cost for clean water are escalating at unprecedented rates. As water issues continue to mount, stringent water conserving strategies will be implemented by all sectors of our society - homeowners, business and industry, local governments and schools. In considering all viable, environmentally sound options available to us today and in the near future, there are few that can match the positive impact that can be derived from implementing rainwater catchment systems.
North Carolina economists have estimated that every time the state's water supply drops by 10%, the North Carolina economy loses $50-100 million. In 2001, North Carolina's water supply dropped 25%. Water rates across the state have increased dramatically over the past several years, and with water resources quickly dwindling, the rates will continue to escalate for the foreseeable future.
Schools are significant consumers of the common water supply. A typical middle school uses more than 6,000 gallons of non-potable water per day for flushing toilets alone. Irrigation applications can more than double this figure. Rainwater collected from the roofs of these schools can easily fulfill the great majority of this need.
It is projected that if only 100 schools were to implement rainwater collection systems, the annual water savings would exceed 200,000,000 gallons per year. Additionally, the nitrogen runoff at these 100 schools would be reduced by a total of 10,000 pounds per year.
Rainwater collection systems on schools not only capture water but also capture the cost savings associated with that water. More important, it provides the students with a wonderful lesson in the value and importance of conserving and protecting water resources. They will learn about the cost of water, how much energy it takes to treat and transport water, the benefits that can be realized by reducing stormwater leaving the site, and the environmental consequences of not addressing water shortage problems in an environmentally sustainable manner.
The Raincatcher™ program has been developed over the past several years in response to increased interest in the design of rainwater collection systems for school environments. Water is becoming more scarce, and water rates are increasing dramatically in municipalities across the country. School systems are realizing that rainwater collection systems have a dramatic impact on the way their students comprehend global, national and local climatic concerns and specifically, water issues. These systems give schools an opportunity to enhance their curriculum through the incorporation of rainwater collection systems.
Through the input of several building and school-use variables, the program evaluates rainwater supply versus non-potable water demand and provides a proper cistern size, and projections of monthly water savings, monthly water balance and preliminary cost estimate.
Although the concept of rainwater collection is simple to understand, the design of the system can be complex. This new computer tool calculates rainwater collection and non-potable distribution in school environments. It is a design tool that school designers can use to determine optimum cistern size and collection area and make early cost projections of the rainwater collection system. The program uses data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) to provide local simulations for rainfall and accounts for several key variables including building roof area, cistern size and water consumption patterns by the school to create an optimal rainwater collection system for a particular school.