Implementing Rainwater Harvesting
Implementing Rainwater Harvesting
On The Austin College Campus
Austin College prides itself on having an aesthetically pleasing campus. These aesthetics include multiple flowerbeds, trees, and fountains. When sitting on one of the campus lawns, the sound of splashing water can be heard faintly coming from the fountains, adding to the calm and enjoyable experience. Although these fountains look wonderful and add to the college campus’s appearance, they are quite expensive to run. The amount of water the fountains hold varies from 9,000 to 15,000 gallons. All the water used to fill and run these fountains is taken straight from the city water line. Implementing Rainwater Harvesting on the Austin College campus could lower water bills and contribute to the campus’s effort to “Go Green.” Although it is not feasible for Austin College to use only collected rainwater for all their watering needs at this time, they could use collected rainwater to fill and run the fountains. This process would include catching the rainwater runoff from nearby campus buildings, storing the runoff in rain barrels, and distributing it to the fountains. A major component to the Rainwater Harvesting notion is maximizing the collection of water from surface runoff. Since they would be using the water to fill and run fountains on campus, Austin College could utilize the buildings that are closest to the said fountains. On the campus, there are a multitude of large buildings that have the potential in providing all the water runoff the campus would need for this process. For example, the Wright Campus Center building has a square footage of 82,000 feet (Austin College, 2012). In a one-inch rainfall, half a gallon of water can be collected from just one square foot of roof (Reduce storm water runoff with a rain barrel, 2011). According to these numbers, Wright Campus Center has the capability to produce 41,000 gallons of water per one-inch rainfall. Ida Green is another large building on
On The Austin College Campus
Austin College prides itself on having an aesthetically pleasing campus. These aesthetics include multiple flowerbeds, trees, and fountains. When sitting on one of the campus lawns, the sound of splashing water can be heard faintly coming from the fountains, adding to the calm and enjoyable experience. Although these fountains look wonderful and add to the college campus’s appearance, they are quite expensive to run. The amount of water the fountains hold varies from 9,000 to 15,000 gallons. All the water used to fill and run these fountains is taken straight from the city water line. Implementing Rainwater Harvesting on the Austin College campus could lower water bills and contribute to the campus’s effort to “Go Green.” Although it is not feasible for Austin College to use only collected rainwater for all their watering needs at this time, they could use collected rainwater to fill and run the fountains. This process would include catching the rainwater runoff from nearby campus buildings, storing the runoff in rain barrels, and distributing it to the fountains. A major component to the Rainwater Harvesting notion is maximizing the collection of water from surface runoff. Since they would be using the water to fill and run fountains on campus, Austin College could utilize the buildings that are closest to the said fountains. On the campus, there are a multitude of large buildings that have the potential in providing all the water runoff the campus would need for this process. For example, the Wright Campus Center building has a square footage of 82,000 feet (Austin College, 2012). In a one-inch rainfall, half a gallon of water can be collected from just one square foot of roof (Reduce storm water runoff with a rain barrel, 2011). According to these numbers, Wright Campus Center has the capability to produce 41,000 gallons of water per one-inch rainfall. Ida Green is another large building on
References: Austin college. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.austincollege.edu/ Peterson, D. (2012). Harvested rainwater. Retrieved from http://rainwater.sustainablesources.com/ Reduce storm water runoff with a rain barrel. (2011, April 15). Retrieved from http://www.brentwoodmo.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=887 Schelly, C., Cross, J., Franzen, W., Hall, P., & Reeve, S. (2011). Reducing energy consumption and creating a conservation culture in organization: a case study of one public school district. Environment and Behavior, 43(3), 316-343. The Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting, third edition. Texas Water Development Board. 2005. (http://www.twdb.state.tex.us/pubications/reports/Rainwater HarvestingManual_3rdedition.pdf). U.s. climate data. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate.php?location=USTX1255 Winter, P. L., & Cvetkovich, G. T. (2010). Trust mediates conservation-related behaviors. Ecopsychology, 2(4), 211-219.