Aug/Sept 2013: Rainlab at Dalton School

Rainlab at Dalton School  II  Manhattan, New York  II  USA

Who needs a play pool when you can mount running water on a wall?!  In an innovative way to integrate motor skills, learning and pure play, HOGs on the roof spill water down into a maze of pipes and valves that delights all ages.

“For kids this age, it’s all about interactivity and exploration,” says Will Hopkins, the Dalton School Science Department chairman.

Year of Install: 2012

Installation Stats: The interactive rooftop science classroom at Manhattan prep school for First Program students (grades K-3) has two orange HOGs installed horizontally to capture rainwater from an adjacent roof.

HOG Skills: The stormwater moves down the wall through a series of pipes, paddles and wheels and collects in removable buckets used to water plants. When it rains, the wheels and beams move on their own, even when the tank valves are shut off. Planters, a cold frame, a compost bin, and solar panels complete the 16-foot square rooftop “RainLab.”

Where is it now? Science lessons in the rooftop classroom are an interactive experience for young students. With the water wall demonstrating stormwater capture, planters, solar panels, and wind and weather elements, the small Dalton School rooftop is a kid-friendly introduction to sustainable practices. Liz Pulver, landscape architect from Town and Garden Ltd. and designer of the Rainlab, does periodic maintenance on the structure to ensure it’s continued smooth running.

Aug/Sept 2013: Campus Rainworks Challenge

The US Environmental Protection Agency has announced the second annual Campus Rainworks Challenge.

The Illinois Institute of Technology won first prize for the small institution category in 2012. Click to see award-winning designs from last year’s contest.

The contest has been expanded to include Master Plan and Site Design categories, but the premise remains: college and university students are invited to “design an innovative green infrastructure project for their campus showing how managing stormwater at its source can benefit the campus community and the environment.”

Cash prizes are included, along with the opportunity for Site Design winners to apply for grant funding for a demonstration project. Registration opens September 9 and closes October 7, 2013.

Bring HOG to Your School! Our offer to participating student teams: incorporate Rainwater HOG tanks into a winning entry, and we will give you three HOG tanks.

December 2012: StormWorks in Pittsburgh

StormWorks is a Model of Community Engagement in Pittsburgh

“In Pittsburgh, as with most urban areas, a lot of the houses are very close together with small lots for draining stormwater,” explains Luke Stamper of StormWorks, a division of Nine Mile Run WaterShed Association. StormWorks provides simple solutions for Pittsburgh area property owners – such as rain tanks, rain gardens, permeable pavement, and tree planting – to reduce stormwater damage to the water supply.

Two tanks are coupled at each downspout in a narrow alleyway; the harvested rainwater will be used on the homeowner’s lawn and garden.

Recently, StormWorks installed four HOG tanks, which will collect almost 15,000 gallons of water annually,  in a walkway between two houses in urban Pittsburgh. The HOG’s low profile made them the best catchment system for the residential install. In other words, Rainwater HOG tanks fit where rain barrels would not.
A USA Today study documenting the rising cost of water across 100 municipalities shows that water rates doubled in more than a quarter of the locations (such as Philadelphia and Baltimore) and tripled in others (such as Atlanta and San Francisco). The study provides compelling reason for increased awareness and implementation of water conservation practices across cities nationwide.

Public education campaigns can help raise awareness about water management techniques and tools.  StormWorks’  innovative Rain Barrels on Parade program – with rain barrels painted by local artists and displayed throughout Pittsburgh for three months – is a case in point. By sharing ways for homeowners to control their stormwater footprint (and save money on water use), StormWorks empowers Pittsburgh to make positive, measurable changes neighborhood by neighborhood.

Two thumbs up to StormWorks for effective community engagement, and for choosing the most nimble tank on the market for those narrow urban spaces!

September 2012: Ask Dr. HOG

Ask Dr. HOG

In the spirit of brainstorming and problem solving we will be sharing some of the queries that come to us about installed HOGs or planned HOG installations. Our first is from Frank Katz in New Mexico who has two HOGs installed on their sides, and buried at the back of a raised garden bed.

Potted plants and a garden make for a welcoming entrance to this Santa Fe, New Mexico home.

Two HOG tanks, discreetly covered, irrigate the Katz garden.

ISSUE: HELP! Heavy rain is causing my filter to block and my garden may wash away in the next big storm!

Frank installed his HOGs in summer 2012 to water his Santa Fe garden. The HOGs form the back of the raised garden, and a retaining wall at the front completes the installation. The water in the HOGs can go two ways: either via a spigot to a hose on the porch for watering potted plants, or via a drip system to the front garden. Ingeniously, Frank is using an RV pump to circulate the HOG-held water.

SOLUTION: Frank plans on installing a larger filter. And he’s right: a larger filter would mitigate the heavy storm water flow. A large vortex filter, which uses cyclonic separation rather than a physical mesh to filter roof water is ideally suited to the heavy rainfall and hail of the Southwest. (Watch a video of a vortex filter at work here.) It is also important, with only 100 gallons of water storage, that the overflow from the HOGs is plumbed using larger diameter pipe (the same diameter as the downspout is best) above the level of the HOGs and the vents, and is routed away from the raised garden.

Backed up debris filter? No water pressure? An unorthodox install that works like a dream? If you have questions or solutions to share, talk to Dr. HOG!

 

 

September 2012: Register Now for Campus Rainworks Challenge!

The United States Environmental Protection Agency is now registering student teams for the Campus Rainworks Challenge! The design contest for college and university students raises awareness of green infrastructure alternatives for stormwater management.

Omaha North High School students install two HOG tanks as part of their 2011 school renovation.

To participate, student teams, working with a faculty adviser, must submit design plans for a proposed green infrastructure project on their campus.

Teams must register by October 5 and submit their entries by  December 14, 2012. Winning entries will be selected by the EPA and announced in April 2013.

Our offer to participating student teams: incorporate Rainwater HOG tanks into a winning entry, and we will give you three HOG tanks.

Winning teams will earn a cash prize of $1,500 – $2,500 as well as $8,000 – $11,000 in funds for their faculty adviser to conduct research on green infrastructure.

August 2012: Campus Rainworks Challenge

Omaha North High School students install two HOG tanks as part of their 2011 school renovation.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has launched Campus Rainworks Challenge, a student design contest engineered to raise awareness of green infrastructure alternatives for stormwater management.

Our offer to participating student teams: incorporate Rainwater HOG tanks into a winning entry, and we will give you three HOG tanks.

Registration opens September 4 and ends December 14, 2012. Winning entries will be selected by the EPA and announced in April 2013.

The Whole HOG: June 2012

Water-centric Green Design News

This June we’re finding inspiration in unexpected places, like the toy race car featured in B.U.G. Design powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology.

But we’re also inspired to see how the concepts of rainwater harvesting and stormwater management are moving into the mainstream. The Campus Rainworks Challenge, sponsored by the EPA, is a great illustration of this.

So, if you’re looking for inspiration this summer, you’ve come to the right blog. We also have giveaways and good design (see: Australian beach eco-renovation at Bondi Beach) inside to sweeten the deal.

June 2012: Campus Rainworks Challenge

A Green Infrastructure Design Contest for Colleges and Universities

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has launched Campus Rainworks Challenge, a student design contest engineered to raise awareness of green infrastructure alternatives for stormwater management.

Let’s pause a moment before we go into more detail. At HOG, we love this idea! In fact, we’d like to make an offer to participating student teams. Incorporate HOG tanks into a winning entry, and we will give you three HOG tanks.

Student teams, working with a faculty adviser, will submit design plans for a proposed green infrastructure project for their campus. Entries will be judged on:

• Analysis and Planning
• Preservation or Restoration of Natural Features
• Integrated Water Management
• Soil and Vegetation Management
• Value to Campus
• Likelihood of Implementation

And what’s the prize? Winning teams will earn a cash prize of $1,500 – $2,500, as well as $8,000 – $11,000 in funds for their faculty adviser to conduct research on green infrastructure.

Registration opens September 4 and ends December 14, 2012. Winning entries will be selected by EPA and announced in April 2013.

In other words, boys and girls, there’s plenty of time to devise an award-winning, money-making, campus-improving stormwater management plan for your school.

Looking for Inspiration?

An 8-HOG catchment system provides an on-site reserve of water for the Green & Main Pilot Project. Workers install a bioswale in the foreground.

Check out the Green & Main Pilot Project in Des Moines, Iowa. Eight HOG tanks were incorporated into the ambitious greening of a mixed-used commercial building. Their comprehensive
stormwater management plan is part of their bid to achieve LEED Platinum status.

February 2012: Dalton Water Wall – From Concept to Reality

                                               from concept                                                    to reality

We first showed the preliminary concept sketch for the Dalton School water wall in our August 2011 newsletter. Fast forward six months and the whimsical water wall is the subject of a Landscape Architecture Magazine feature on environmental education moving beyond the garden.

Landscape architect Liz Pulver, of Town and Gardens Ltd, designed the storm water feature of the remarkable rooftop science classroom for the Manhattan prep school. Two orange HOGs – chosen for their compact rectangular form, stackability, and eye-catching orange –  are installed horizontally to capture rainwater from an adjacent roof.

“For kids this age, it’s all about interactivity and exploration,” says Will Hopkins, chairman of the Dalton School’s science department.

The stormwater moves down the wall through a series of pipes, paddles and wheels and collects in removable buckets used to water plants. When it rains, the wheels and beams move on their own, even when the tank valves are shut off. Planters, a cold frame, a compost bin, and solar panels complete the 16-foot square rooftop “Green Lab.”

February 2012: NRDC Releases New Report on Rooftop Rainwater Capture

The National Resources Defense Council
Capturing Rainwater from Rooftops

The National Resources Defense Council has released a 25-page report on Capturing Rainwater from Rooftops. The report finds, “Rooftop rainwater capture is a simple, cost-effective approach for supplying water that promotes sustainable water management.”

Benefits of rainwater harvesting include:

• Inexpensive, on-site supply of water that can be used for outdoor non-potable uses with little, if any, treatment, or for a variety of additional uses including potable supply with appropriately higher levels of treatment
• Reduced (or no) energy and economic costs associated with treating and delivering potable water to end users because capture systems often use low-volume, non-pressurized, gravity fed systems or require only the use of a low power pump for supply
• Reduced strain on existing water supply sources
• Reduced runoff that would otherwise contribute to stormwater flows, a leading cause of surface water pollution and urban flooding

Some statistics from the report:

• 270 billion gallons of water are used each week—a significant portion of it potable—to water 23 million acres of lawn in the United States. This watering bill costs $40 billion annually.
• One study shows that the total annual volume of rainwater falling on rooftops in eight U.S. cities, if captured in its entirety, would be enough to meet the water supply needs of between 21% and 75% of that city’s population each year.