concrete floors.Commercial greenhouses in places like Delta andLangley have already taken rainwater recycling to ahigh art: many operations capture and use rain for watering,<strong>the</strong>n continually recapture <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> soil, filterand reuse.Toilet flushing with rain is more complicated, oftenrequiring a separate indoor plumbing system to moveit within <strong>the</strong> building, as well as time-consumingconsultations with municipal building officials to getapproval. (See sidebar.) Such projects often occur inbig “green” building developments like <strong>the</strong> OlympicVillage. Developers often earn points toward LEEDcertification for such water conservation measures,providing <strong>the</strong> incentive to go through all <strong>the</strong> trouble.<strong>The</strong>n <strong>the</strong>re are those who use rain water out of direnecessity -- usually for drinking. As early as <strong>the</strong>1960s, farmers in <strong>the</strong> Lower Fraser Valley and onVancouver Island started to notice <strong>the</strong>ir <strong>ground</strong>waterwas being contaminated by syn<strong>the</strong>tic fertilizers andmanure. Burgess still gets regular calls <strong>from</strong> farmerslooking for cleaner sources of water for <strong>the</strong>ir cattle,horses, and families.Many rainwater drinkers started out like Burgesshimself: he retired to a piece of land served by a badwell (he lives and works on <strong>The</strong>tis Island in <strong>the</strong> GulfIslands) -- and looked to <strong>the</strong> sky for solutions.He says 75 per cent of <strong>the</strong> people currently using rainfor potable water in B.C. have no choice; ano<strong>the</strong>r 25per cent have <strong>the</strong> option of drilling a well (with noguarantee of success), but choose rainwater. <strong>The</strong>re isalso a tiny but growing number of people who want toconserve water for <strong>the</strong> sake of conservation -- a movethat also provides more control over <strong>the</strong> contents of<strong>the</strong> water. (See sidebar for ballpark rain system costs,including potable.)A barrel of possibilitiesBurgess says using rain for irrigation holds <strong>the</strong> greatestpromise in changing how residential consumersand many municipalities consume and conserve water.Each summer, <strong>the</strong> demand for treated water almostdoubles across <strong>the</strong> Lower Mainland, due almost entirelyto lawn watering, at <strong>the</strong> very time when rainfallis lowest. Peak summer water demand typically occurssometime in July each year, when <strong>the</strong> masses aresoaking <strong>the</strong>ir lawns to keep <strong>the</strong>ir grass green. It is thispeak demand that drives <strong>the</strong> costs of our entire watersystem -- everything <strong>from</strong> budgeting water needs todetermining <strong>the</strong> size of our pipes.“<strong>The</strong> single best thing municipalities could be doingis providing <strong>the</strong> means for Mr. And Mrs. Smith tohave a 1,000 gallon rain barrel full of water in July,”says Burgess. He says ubiquitous rain watering systems,fitted with a simple fixture to allow rain tanks tobe topped <strong>up</strong> with municipal water as needed at night,would solve <strong>the</strong> costs and strains of meeting this peakdemand.Many o<strong>the</strong>rs agree. As lawn sprinkling rules get moreonerous, rain harvesting is going to start making moresense, says Bruce Hemstock, a principle at Vancouverlandscape architects PWL Partnership -- which designed<strong>the</strong> Vancouver Convention Centre’s 2.4-hectare“living roof.” “Summers are starting to get a little longerand drier, and we’ll get to a point where we won’tbe watering our lawns [with potable water] at all.”What needs to change?Kenneth Chow says rainwater irrigation has a brightfuture, and he should know. Chow is a “building codeconsultant” with Pioneer Consultants -- basically anenabler who helped Olympic Village developers earn<strong>the</strong> “equivalencies” required to get rain water toiletsinstalled and approved. He says using rain for irrigationis much simpler, cheaper and safer than tryingto put it in toilets -- and you don’t have to post thosesilly hazard signs ei<strong>the</strong>r.“If we use rain harvesting for irrigation, it’s very lowrisk, and much easier to control <strong>the</strong> hygenics of <strong>the</strong>water... if <strong>the</strong>re’s a mistake, <strong>the</strong> consequences areminimal. A plant might get a little water with bacteriain it, but <strong>the</strong>re’s already lots of bacteria in <strong>the</strong> soil.”He says regulatory agencies need to sit down wi<strong>the</strong>xperts and “publish” <strong>the</strong> basic rules that will governhow rain water systems are designed and built -- insteadof evaluating each system on a case-by-casebasis, and forcing developers and o<strong>the</strong>r aspiring rainharvesters to devise custom “solutions” every time.66
Discussions to this end are already happening: lastyear <strong>the</strong> City of Vancouver engaged in talks withMetro Vancouver, industry and neighbouring municipalitiesexploring sanitation standards for rainwater.This includes adding chlorine to stored rainwater toprotect municipal potable water s<strong>up</strong>ply -- in <strong>the</strong> sameway we currently use chlorine to treat water for swimmingpools.Burgess has practical suggestions of his own. “Allow<strong>the</strong> use of [rain storage] tanks as tall as <strong>the</strong> legislatedfence height (like this one), and make it so <strong>the</strong>y cango anywhere within a foot of <strong>the</strong> property line. Thatone little change would take away a whole bunch ofhassles for people.”67
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