Green Projects
Jacksonville, Oregon is a historic gold rush town in the southern part of the state. While most people think of Oregon as having rain all year long, the Rogue Valley is known for dry summers that sometimes lead to fires.
One local company was looking for a way to not only fill its own water needs, but also help out its community. With RainTube already installed in all the gutters on the historic home they converted into an office, and BarrelMan collection barrels on-site to harness small quantities of rain for reuse, the owners decided to take it one step further – they installed a RainSpace underground water storage chamber.
The modular nature of the flexible RainSpace collection system allowed it to integrate seamlessly with the existing RainTube water catchment system. The company excavated a 200 sq. ft. space in their driveway (10 ft. wide x 20 ft. long x 5 ft. deep) to install a RainSpace system that can hold 5,000 gallons of pure rainwater.
One inch of rain falling on the office-building roof and adjacent storage shed equals 1000 gallons of clean, fresh rainwater. Since the area gets 20 inches in a year, the company is able to fill the tank four times in a year. The lack of rain in the summer months means that the final rainfall of the spring has to last a longer time. Ideally they want to have the tank filled to capacity at the end of the season, in order to last through summer. And with a 5,000-gallon storage space, that’s completely possible.
With water now plentiful and free, they use it to irrigate landscaping, wash company vehicles, and provide an emergency water system for the volunteer firefighters in the town. One third of the dirt from the excavation was packed tightly back on top of the installed system, allowing vehicles to drive right on top—even a fire engine. When the local fire department needs an extra source of water, they can pull their pumper truck right on top of the invisible RainSpace system, drop their hose into the fire-water well and pump the water they need.
This was a key selling point for the company’s owners. With limited parking for their vehicles and customers, they did not want to take up valuable space with a large pre-assembled tank that would sit above ground. Because all the RainSpace components can be brought in and installed by hand, there was no need for large cranes or trucks to deliver the system. And since it is installed below ground, the company can keep all the parking space it needs.
The owners also chose RainSpace because it could fit into any space. If they had a curved area for installation, it would have worked. At one point they considered wrapping it around their office, and that would have been possible with RainSpace, which can work with any existing geography—even wrapping around the trees that are plentiful in Oregon. The modular RainTube components that make up a RainSpace system can contour perfectly to the rougher terrain.
Now with all the downspouts leading into the RainSpace collection system, the company is saving money on water and giving back to the community it serves. It sounds like a very green win-win situation to us.
