1. APRIL 2014 HOUSE & HOME 17
Elite National Water
Management, LLC
342 Chestnut Avenue
West Berlin, N.J.
(856) 767-4443
Bhoffman@americanwatermanagement.com
AmericanWaterManagement.com.
Rainwater HarvestingReduce stormwater runoff and save money and energy
Raincontributestotrafficproblems,requires
ustodressappropriatelyandcreatesstormwa-
ter issues.
Modern construction and development
is designed to shed rainfall as quickly as pos-
sible. Streets are designed to direct water to
curbing which directs the water to stormwa-
terinletsfordischargeintostreams,riversand
oceans. Homes and buildings are designed
withguttersanddownspoutswhichdischarge
the rainwater on impervious surfaces such as
driveways, sidewalks and parking lots.
Theproblemisthestormwaterrunoffcre-
ated by the way we design our buildings,
homes and roadways. When rainwater
runs off impervious surfaces a toxic mix of
vehicular oils, fuel residue and other vehic-
ular byproducts are washed down the drain,
literally.
Rainwater runoff from our homes and
buildings carries fertilizers, animal waste and
trash into our streets which then discharges
into our waterways.
There is a however a silver lining to rain-
fall. Rainfallcreatesopportunityforbothac-
tive and passive rainwater harvesting. Rain-
water harvesting is the centuries old method
of collecting, storing and reusing rainwater.
Thecollectedwatercanbeusedtosupplement
or even replace exterior potable water usage
forirrigation,washingvehiclesorusedonthe
interiorofthehomeforflushingtoilets,wash-
ing clothes, showers or even drinking water.
For the purposes of this article we will focus
more on the non-potable uses for rainwater.
Active rainwater harvesting can be sim-
ply accomplished. The easiest and most cost
effective introduction into rainwater harvest-
ing is to install a rain barrel on your home.
The rain barrel is set on a firm surface under
a downspout. The downspout is cut above
the top of the rain barrel to allow the rain-
water to flow into the barrel. Instead of the
water draining down the downspout to an
impervious surface the rainwater is directed
into the rain barrel for reuse in the garden.
Rain barrels come in many shapes and
sizes with the most common with a capaci-
ty of 50 gallons.
The amount of rainwater collection po-
tential can yield some astonishing numbers.
One inch of rainfall on a 1,000 square foot
roof will shed about 623 gallons of rainwa-
ter. As you can see a rain barrel doesn’t come
closetomeetingyourrainwatercollectionpo-
tential. Larger rainwater harvesting systems
can be installed with filtering systems, above
grade and below grade tanks or cisterns of-
fering capacities ranging from 200 to over
20,000gallons. Pumpscanbeinstalledtopro-
vide pressure.
Collecting, storing and reusing rainwater
notonlyreducesstormwaterrunoffbutitalso
saves money and energy. Water fees,
stormwater fees and the energy required to
bring water to our homes and businesses will
continue to rise. Rainwater harvesting pro-
vides a hedge against rising utility costs. The
benefits of rainwater are many; rain is nat-
urally distilled, free of chlorine and fluoride,
naturally soft and full of nutrients which are
beneficial to lawns, flowers and vegetables.
There are also many ways to passively
harvest rainwater. Installing a rain garden is
asimplewaytomanagerunoff. Adownspout
is directed to the rain garden which is a shal-
low depression created in the ground to cap-
ture rainwater runoff. The soil is amended in
the garden to allow growth for native vege-
tation plantings.
Impervious surfaces such as concrete and
asphaltcanbetransformedintopervioussur-
faces allowing rainwater to soak directly
through the surface recharging groundwater
andaquifers. Perviouspaversandgrasspavers
can also create an aesthetic and functional
method of passively collecting rainwater.
Maybe rainwater isn’t such a nuisance
after all.
People view rainwater as a nuisance.
by Bill Hoffman,
President of Elite National Water Management
Landscaping
PhotoscourtesyofEliteNationalWaterManagement