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Rainwater Harvesting Products for Commercial Systems
Rainwater Harvesting Products for Commercial Buildings
More and more commercial projects like office buildings, shopping centers, apartment buildings, and industrial buildings are considering rainwater harvesting to provide the water for their landscape irrigation. What kind of rainwater harvesting products should they be using? Are they different from the rainwater harvesting products you would use at home to collect and reuse the rainwater to irrigate your landscape? Generally, construction products used in commercial construction are more heavy duty than those used in residential construction.
Is the Flotender a Commercial Grade Rainwater-Harvesting Product?
Yes, the Flotender tanks are all built of heavy-duty plastic, which is designed and built for commercial rainwater harvesting for landscape irrigation applications. The pipe connections to the Flotender tanks are all made with heavy-duty sewer fittings. The internal components are all accessible from the top for convenient access. The Flotender components have been used in many commercial water feature applications featuring Filtrific products for over ten years, so it is a proven technology.
Rainwater Harvesting for Commercial Projects
Rainwater collected from roofs, parking lots, and other hard surfaces can be used for landscape irrigation around the building. Many commercial projects have landscaped areas that are covered and don’t receive any rainfall and they are an excellent application for disposing of the collected rainwater in both the rainy season and the dry season. The excess rainwater collected during the rainy season can also be collected in a retention pond or underground tanks and then pumped out during the summer for irrigation. The rainwater could also be diverted to a rain garden during the winter and then switched to drip irrigation for the landscape during the summer. A landscape architect can design a beautiful landscape incorporating all of these ideas that will end up being far less reliant on domestic water, and extensive wastewater disposal systems, and in turn will both utilize and dispose of the rainwater.
Rainwater Harvesting and the Landscape
Once the owner of a commercial project has communicated to the landscape architect the desire to incorporate rainwater harvesting into the commercial project, the landscape architect can look at the landscape with a whole new perspective. The landscape design objective now should be to create a landscape that can absorb rainwater in the winter and last for longer periods without water in the summer. Plants that can tolerate lots of water should be located around the rain gardens. Plants that will rely on irrigation during the summer should be planted with good soil that will be able to absorb and store water to give them a longer reserve to last between rainfalls.
Multiple Rainwater Harvesting Systems on the Site
With the Flotender system, multiple systems can be located around the project instead of one large system. A Flotender rainwater harvesting system could be located at each corner of the building with each one providing landscape irrigation for one quarter of the landscaping around the building. Other rainwater harvesting systems could be located at various points out in the parking areas. In order to make this work line voltage power would need to be located at each rainwater harvesting location and then each Flotender rainwater harvesting system would be a stand-alone system.
The Landscape Irrigation System
The best type of landscape irrigation system to use with rainwater harvesting is drip irrigation for the trees and shrubs, and subsurface irrigation for the lawn areas. This is because they are the most efficient forms of landscape irrigation. Since rainwater harvesting is being used it is assumed that water conservation is a high priority for the project so it only makes sense to use the most efficient form of landscape irrigation. When the rainwater is depleted, and domestic water has to be used, at least it will be used as sparingly as possible. An auto fill and an air gap can be utilized with each Flotender system so that domestic water is used when the rainwater runs out.
Part of the Green Movement
Rainwater harvesting for a commercial building can really show the owner is really committed to conserving our resources. More and more landscape architects are going to need to be come experts in designing landscapes that incorporate rainwater management into the landscape. It is time to move past using drinking water for landscape irrigation.
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