Rain Water Collection System In Peoria, Illinois

Former Roy-Fisher landscape designer, Bill Chambers, devised a rain water collection system at his company’s, Chamber & Sons Landscaping, headquarters in Peoria, Illinois. The inspiration came when he wanted to cultivate plants but could not, due to the lack of water infrastructure on the property.

He began by purchasing two standard sized garbage cans from the local home improvement store to setup as a test system. He used PVC pipes and fittings to connect the two. One can had the downspout from the building’s roof empty into it. The test system turned out to be a success, and it was time to expand.

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A local plumbing company (C.L. O’Brien Plumbing, Inc.) gave Bill several old water softener tanks to use as more rain barrels. But these aren’t standard garbage cans, these are much larger. With these new barrels the system went from a capacity of 64 gallons to 1,200+ gallons.

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Bill spent several weeks perfecting the rain barrel system. He installed a lower patio for the larger barrels and individual pedestals for each of the smaller containers to make sure the control water level would fill up 100% of each barrel and utilize 100% of the water collected by each barrel. The first barrel (one of the original two garbage cans) that the downspout empties into has screen filters that the water must pass through before entering the other barrels. All the barrels are connected with PVC pipe and fittings and waterproofed using large rubber washers. He installed a hose bib to the largest barrel and a 560 GPH submersible pump resides inside the large barrel as well. A drip irrigation hose was attached to the hose bib which also has an easy to clean out filter.

It rained for a couple of hours on Sunday, September 20^th, 2009, which was more than enough to fill the entire system to the brim. The overflow is piped into the adjacent corn field.

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On Tuesday, September 22^nd, 2009, the first part of the drip irrigation system was installed. At first small spray heads are being used to water trays of seedlings, but eventually each plant will be given its own bubbler if need be. After the system ran for ten minutes, no noticeable change was seen in the water level of the barrels. Currently, only three spray heads and four bubblers are hooked into the system, but it should take quite some time for the water level to decrease.

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Any questions or comments are greatly appreciated as this is an experimental rain collection system. Thus far it seems to be working wonderfully, but any ideas on how to improve it are greatly appreciated.

Should we Share?

This spring I had an intern from Florida Atlantic University that is excited about everything green. South Florida geography makes the LEED point requiring that materials be within a 500 mile radius challenging. Furthermore, many products indicate that they use recycled materials but do they meet LEED requirements regarding percentages and post vs. pre consumer waste? My dream has been to put together a list of materials that meet these requirements for South Florida. The materials I’m interested in as a Landscape Architect would be concrete, pavers, wood, irrigation equipment, light fixtures, outdoor furniture, metals, sealers and preservatives.

The intern took the project on and began researching on the web. She found a million products that claimed to be green. In order to focus her efforts, she contacted “green” consultants to see if they might have some sort of list from which she could start. These businesses wouldn’t help; she felt that they were unwilling to share.

I guess there could be a couple of reasons for this. The most obvious reason to a business person would be that they are getting paid for this service. Through the intern’s eyes, shouldn’t we be sharing this information for the better good? Couldn’t the ‘green ‘consultants get a percentage from the products they include on their list? Or – maybe these lists don’t exist at all.

What do you think? Are those lists out there? Should the information be shared?

Editorial

by Jake Fisher, Roy-Fisher Associates

Weinstein, Neil & Kloss, Christopher. The Implications of Section 438 for the Green Technology. Stormwater, March/April, pg 8.

In a recent editorial in Stormwater, experts Neil Weinstein and Christopher Kloss discussed the likely impact of Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act. Weinstein and Kloss declare Section 438 requires federal facilities to meet predevelopment hydrology for new building construction over 5,000 square feet using planning and nonstructural and structural best management practices (BMPs) to the maximum extent technically feasible. The underlying goal is to protect and restore watersheds using technologies that make sense for the site and the targeted management goal thereby promoting the use and development of the most efficient technologies. Currently being produced (via an EPA Subcontract) is a guidance document which will create the framework for innovation and research needed to develop this high-performance approach.

Furthermore Weinstein and Kloss maintain Section 438’s representation of an “important next step toward improving the health of the nation’s waters and signifies Congress’ recognition of the work of the EPA and its partners advocating for greener stormwater controls.” Section 438 will bring increased green infrastructure at federal facilities. For example, vegetation will be used to intercept rainfall and evapotranspirate moisture back into the atmosphere, undisturbed or enhanced soils will allow natural infiltration, and water harvesting systems will collect and reuse rainfall on site. Green infrastructure, effective at reducing the volume, peak flow, and pollutant load of stormwater will be used to reduce the burden on existing infrastructure and to protect receiving streams. The new law allows the federal government to become the earliest innovators within the realm of sustainable infrastructure which can be used to provide numerous positive outcomes for the environment (and in so doing develop the federal government’s “economic and environmental sustainability”.

Weinstein and Kloss additionally assert the interconnectivity of water and energy stating “the transport, use, and disposal of water are energy intensive” and “integrated water management that recognizes the resource value of water will lead to improved energy efficiencies and conservation”.

“The federal government is the largest landholder in the US; the passage of the EISA, coupled with a renewed commitment to infrastructure investment, presents a unique opportunity to establish an improved infrastructure network”.

Florida Green Lodge

I was disappointed when I picked up a flier on the requirements to be a Florida Green Lodge and noticed that there were NO site or landscape considerations. While it is very admirable that hotels are beginning to conserve water by their laundry practices and low flow plumbing fixtures, shouldn’t there be a requirement to conserve water in the landscape?

There are admirable energy efficiency requirements but these could be supplemented with additional requirements for low energy outdoor light fixtures and planting appropriate trees to shade buildings and air conditioning units.

Additional best management practices should include plant selections and planting methods to reduce fertilizer and chemical runoff, full cut off outdoor lights to protect the night sky, sound stormwater retention practices and areas for wild life habitat.