rainwater harvesting at washington & lee university

Rainwater Harvesting at Washington & Lee

University

A presentation by James McCullum

“At least 36 states are anticipating local, regional, or statewide water shortages by 2013, even under non-drought conditions” -EPA

Common practice by ancient civilizations

Water supply during times of drought

Capture, filter, and store water for later use

Evolving and expanding communities wanted centralized water

Rainwater Harvesting (RWH)

Knowing the collection area to be 85ft by 48ft

Average rainfall in Lexington, Virginia is 40.6 inches

Using this formula we find the potential rainwater harvesting to be:

102,563.72 gallons per year

Why not? Return on initial

investment is not enough The current price of water

does not reflect true cost of water

Educate people about true value of water

Reconnect people to water

How important is water to you?

Small Watershed Grants Program: $77,000 average

grant $16.9 million over 7

years