Of all the water wasted by man, none of our activities wastes as much water as our total neglect at capturing and putting storm water to viable use. One of the problems in solving our water challenges is that we have only begun to scratch the surface of conservation and reuse possibilities.
I am sure that all you have have had the occasion to watch a seemingly never ending river of clear rainwater rushing downhill, then passing into the storm sewers. Uncountable billions of gallons of rainwater pass into our sewer systems and out into lakes, streams and rivers, never to be heard from again. Sadly, once the water is into the sewer system it gets mixed in with so much trash, chemicals and debris that salvaging it becomes a technical challenge. Adding insult to injury, most communities don’t really have the infrastructure and technology in place to salvage this bounty of fresh water.
Nonetheless, with a world-wide water crisis already descended upon us, it is vital that we step up our efforts to reclaim storm water. One interesting way to do that is to begin building homes with a storm water recapture system. Click the link below and see how it would work.
Home Storm-water Reuse Systems
The concept is very easy. after the home is built, an open-top container if you will, is installed for the entire dimension of the yard. Initially, all the soil is excavated away to allow this square container, (or two, front and back yard) to be inserted. Once installed and secured, the container is filled, starting from the bottom working upwards, the container would be filled with filtration gravel, sand, topsoil and then of course the yard would be planted.
At the bottom of the filtration media there would be a screened barrier to allow water to collect into a basin. Once in the basin this water could be pumped to something like a community reservoir for subsequent pumping to an additional, larger, conservation reservoir that could supplement existing supplies or even be used in times of drought. Since the captured would ultimately go to the community’s utility, this water could provide great cost savings, revenue generation, and assurance against future water shortages.