Rainwater collection has been practiced the world over down throughout history. Harvesting the rain for one’s water is quite a logical course of action, after all, particularly in those places where no other source exist. Even now many municipal water systems rely heavily on the rain for their supply. However in this world of dwindling resources, the private collection of rain is an excellent way for people to cut back on personal usage and assist their local public waterworks.
Indeed, usage rates for the whole community can be reduced by as much as an entire fifty percent if most residents pitched in this way. And it is all as easy as a set of rain barrels to catch rooftop runoff and the like. As can be imagined, however, more advanced catchment systems are available, but tried-and-proven means are low-cost if not always convenient!
It’s important to note that rooftop runoff may not be advisable for human consumption because of the water getting into contact with certain roofing materials. To ensure absolute safety in this regard, simply use the water collected for tasks such as washing clothes or flushing toilets. Rainwater collection is a great idea that’s become fashionable again, but modern forms should accommodate modern realities like toxic rain. The sophisticated industrial systems utilized by typical municipal supplies to collect and clean rainwater should continue to be depended upon for drinking and bathing.
Many new buildings are now being erected with green technologies that help reduce the structures’ environmental footprint. Interestingly, some decidedly “low-tech” is often employed, for instance at the new Scottish Parliament building in Holyrod in central Edinburgh, where gravity addresses the removal of rainwater via a web of downpipes. Thanks to the vision of architect Enric Moralles, these pipes also happen to lend the MSP Office Building a striking aesthetic effect on its east elevation.
