treefriend89

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stori...S.1f56cf0.html
1 million gallons...
It looks like this is going to be one of the largest (if not the largest?) rainwater harvesting systems out there! Way to go Gates! The whole project looks pretty cool, I'll have to check it out next time i'm in seattle...

petetheharvester

While its great that they are trying to be resource conscious, doesn't it seem that this rainwater harvesting system is a bit overboard? Did anyone read how big 1 million gallons is. Ya, everyone knows Seattle gets a ton of rain, but how long is it going to take to fill and re-fill that with rainwater? It is smart to think that they will have enough for continued usage through the summer when they may actually need the rain tho. I wonder if they are going to recycle any of the greywater or if they are just going to dump this back to the city.

I've heard cities complain about large rainwater harvesting systems b/c it messes with the natural runoff that would normally occur. No that everyone has one million gallons of storage but i could see a potential problem if there were several of these around the rainy city, maybe his buddy Paul Allen decides ne needs some?

If the runoff got messed up enough, could it possible be that it would manipulate the cycle of rainwater? If so, maybe its a solution for dreary old seattle and they could enjoy sun like the rest of us!

Wahaso

This was great news for the Water Harvesting industry - we appreciate the foundation showing leadership in water sustainability - with the million gallon cistern and the green roofs! That's a big investment, but it will pay back year after year after year for the foundation and their community.

They built their system with a concrete vault system - but we are excited about a more efficient and cost-effective system for water storage using recycled plastic rain tanks that are buried under ground. You can read about the Atlantis D-Raintank system at this link: About Water Storage Options That system is totally flexible in shape and size from a few gallons for a homeowner to millions of gallons for a commercial application like the Gates Foundation.