Review of Integrated Water Management 2007 International Water Conferences

My first exposure to a water conference was at the 2006 ARCSA in Tucson, AZ.  

I learned there about the upcoming 2007 Rainwater & Urban Design conferences ARCSA (American Rainwater Catchment Systems Assoc) in Hawaii (which was going to offer the first ever certification training  for rainwater design professionals) followed by the IRCSA (International Rainwater Catchment Systems  Assoc) in Australia.  

I intuited that this was going to be extremely important informational sharing on a global level, uniting policy  makers, design professionals, industry leaders, academics, & environmentalists. I knew that it was going to  transform my career as an architect.  

The Hawaii hosted conference was held on the big island, at the Volcano military center. It was frugal &  campy, with many internationals attending, every one wearing leis with Hawaiian floral print & very at ease. 

The Sydney Australia hosted conference, held at the urban downtown Sydney Sheraton Hotel was  attended by international delegates from over 40 countries, everyone dressed in dark well-tailored suits. 

The conferences were advertised to have presentations on: various purification methods, strategies for  bringing clean water in the form of harvested rainwater to poor rural residents, a decentralized approach to  meeting water needs in urban areas, microbes and treatment, pro-biotics that populate cisterns, holistic  engineering applied to Rainwater Harvesting and Sustainable “Green” Building Practices, residential or  non-residential applications, scientific white papers, & how drought stricken populations around the globe  have come up with solutions. 

Local Off the Grid applications- Off the grid power miser- if you are afraid that the pump will drain your  battery power or not work when batteries are drained, have an extra tank above the house so you get any  gravity pressure. Use your pump in sunny good PV days, so that the water is perched above with free  gravity on the low PV generating gray blizzard & monsoon days. 

Anti-freeze tips- hang the gutters low on the fascia so that sliding snow doesn’t rip the gutters off of the  roof. 

The last place to freeze is the center of the tank, so locate pipes, valves, & switches there if possible. Just get started & set up your system. Tanks are the most expensive component. Add more tanks as you  can afford them. 

Policies- Portland & Australia have ordinances allowing dual supply systems (rainwater & municipal with  back flow & air gap devices to protect the municipal source from cross contamination. Santa Fe mandates  systems on new buildings 2500 SF or larger. Tucson, AZ requires R.W.H. systems for irrigation & flood  control. 

In Texas, rain water harvesting equipment & systems are exempt from sales tax & property tax. Chlorine IS the most common method used by jurisdictions & centralized water districts to disinfect water.  Fire protection is being approved with rain water by some Australian jurisdictions by having the domestic  tap above the fire protection reserve.

Global conferences coming up are writing legal instrument for managing aquifers shared by 2 or more  countries. 

Some Australian states require mains water for the kitchen sink & allow rainwater & reclaimed gray water  for everything else. Other states do allow water disinfection filer systems for potable drinking water from  rain & no mains requirement.  

Mains vs. Catchment- There is archaeological evidence of rainwater being harvested in China 6000 years  ago. 

“Mains “ water is from water districts, wells, & community infrastructure. It can be subsurface from aquifers,  or surface water from rivers, dams, & acequias. It is municipally managed to direct it from somewhere else  & delivered to the occupants site address. Rain water comes from the sky & lands on the occupant’s  property. Reclaimed water is water that the occupant uses once, then uses again either with treatment or  not. 

Rainwater collection basics: determine quantity of water needed determine annual rain fall, size roof  surface to collect required quantity, divert though gutters to storage cistern (cistern size large enough to  accommodate occupant usage volume during the longest expected interval without rain) . Tanks are the  most expensive component of a R.W.H. system so start with what you can afford & add more tanks in the  future. Pipe to user taps with either gravity or pumps for 40 to 60 psi pressure, determine % of potable &  drinking water. Install disinfection system to potable & drinking water. 

Treatment techniques- screening, settling, activated charcoal, roof washer, cartridges, slow sand, distilling,  chlorine, UV lights, nano-filtration (just a big word that means super tiny) , ozone, reverse osmosis. No  treatment necessary for irrigation. Catchment systems typically disinfect 10% of water for potable using 5,  1, & .5 micron cylinders, UV lights, distillers, charcoal if they use chlorine (discouraged) & occasionally  Ozone. Chlorine degrades into trichloroethane which is carcinogenic when combined with decaying carbon  (like leaves). Choosing alternates to chlorine is an advantage of private R.W.H. Systems. 

Maintenance- clean UV light meter & lens , change filter cylinders, clean out first flush & roof washers,  brine membrane changing, repair leaks, clean gutters, change filters, maintain & clean disinfection equip,  quarterly water quality testing at labs for potable water, check roof integrity, check openings, inlets, &  screens, de-sludge every 2 to 3 years 

Tanks are now available in all materials, shapes & sizes from 50 gal to 40,000 gal & larger. Polyethylene,  fiberglass, wood, metal, concrete, masonry, above ground, below ground, bladders, & food grade liners. Underground tanks should be 50 ft min from septic systems to minimize contamination R.W.H. systems need to be maintained. They are perhaps not suitable for rental vacation homes, rather  better suited at homes where the occupants take responsibility for the mint. 

Carbon filters remove pesticides. Carbon is the food that bacteria like, hence carbon filters help reduce the  bacteria in the cistern or potable water.  

ABS pipe is toxic. Make sure your tank is made from new virgin food grade material. Reclaimed plastic  might have chemicals in it.  

Bacteria needs mixing, still stored water improves its quality, microbiologists say that tanks have good  bacteria, like yogurt. Do not try to clean the walls of your tank. 

Wind- rainwater falls when it finds some particulates in the air to bond to, then it falls. If there are low PH  particulates in the air, then that rain that falls will have a low PH (acid). Pay attention to air or wind borne 

soot, crop dusting, industrial vapor, animal farm feces, other neighbors up wind from your catchment  surface, or jurisdiction spraying for oak moths (current California nightmare ).  

PH – Rainwater preserves ground water, it is mineral free, is close to the user, & can reduce flooding. Rain  falls at neutral 7.0 ph. When it comes in contact with naturally occurring carbon dioxide it gets slightly acid  to 5.7 ph. Acid PH rain is corrosive. Concrete tanks or copper roofing make it even more acid. Rain that  lands on copper roofs & gutters becomes acid PH, & corrosive for the rest of the rainwater catchment  system parts (pipes, pumps, filters, tanks, etc.) Water can be buffered by baking soda to alkalize it. Water gardens take out the calcium oxalate that water may have absorbed form concrete cisterns or tanks  in rain h2o is PH 7. Ponds are PH 8. Below PH 7 copper pipe starts to etch & corrode. 

Gray Water – Individuals generate 90 liters per person per day. Grey water is alkaline ph. 

Australian’s document Water Use: Garden & lawn = 35-50%, Bathroom = 20-30%, Toilets = 10-20%,  Laundry = 25-5-%, Kitchen = 5 %, Drinking water = 1%Americans tend to average it at 60% irrigations, 30%  toilets, 9% domestic potable, 1% drinking water 

Australian Average family household water consumption is approx. 300,000 liters/yr. Americans average it  at 3 person household of 33 gal per day = approx. 100 gal/day/household for indoor use. 

Rule of thumb- to grow food- the water catchment area must be 2.5 times larger than the cultivated area.  Different plants have different coefficients of evaporation. 

Rain gardens are roadway drainage gardens to pre-treat & infiltrate road run off. 

Typical rainfall destination: 40% infiltrates, 15% goes to the water way, 45% evapo-transpires (the engine  of earth’s water cycles) the challenge of the urban environment is to maintain the evapo-transpiration. 

Permeable pavement is for re-using water stored under pavement 

RWH is appropriate for residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, urban & rural. 

Technically, rain water & waste water reclamation can provide all water needs, provided there is enough  collection surface & rain fall. 

Training & Certification 

ARCSA offered first time ever certification of rainwater harvesting design professionals at the Hawaii Aug.  2007 conference. Now the graduates from that training program are offering classes in their respective  home regions. 

The first workshop/training session was by Tim Pope ARCSA 2007 president gave the first class in Hawaii.  Graduates from that session with experience installing over 10 rainwater systems will begin to offer training  sessions in their respective regions.  

Billy Kniffen hosted the second ARCSA professional training workshops in Texas. 

The workshop topics include : situation analysis – growth, concerns , TCEQ regulatory guidelines for  potable water use in municipal and private rainwater harvesting systems, System construction from  planning to drinking and other end uses, Sanitation concerns and options, Non-potable use inside and  outside the home, System maintenance 

Australia- has an organization called green www.plumbers.com training their plumbers how to install  integrated water management systems. CA is currently adopting a similar green plumber program. 

ARCSA Chapters 

ARCSA has SW region, Central region, NE region, SE region, Mid pacific region 

Marilyn Crenshaw & Jack Schultz were appointed as representatives for Southwest region of ARCSA 2007.  

Guidelines 

The Texas MANUAL ON RAINWATER HARVESTING is “THE BIBLE” with guideline.  

The Australian guidelines for rainwater & waste water have 600 pages of text. 66% of south Australians  drink rainwater, based on a risk management approach. 

The UN & World Health Organization are drafting an aquifer treaty  

ARCSA is currently working on refining their guideline to get ready to submit them to the ICBO  (International Conference of Building Officials), as suggested guidelines for code adoption in plumbing &  building, & fire codes. 

New water industry sector innovations 

Australia’s water shortages have stimulated industry businesses that make products 5 years ago, tanks were not allowed, today homes with a 530 gal tank connected to toilets & laundry save  40 % of prior water use. 

Dual system gages that use rain water first if it is in the tank & municipal water only as a backup, back flow  preventer. 

Waste water- The OzziKleen is the only domestic sewerage system utilizing the Aerobic Activated Sludge  technology, therefore the only one which offers the convenience associated with town sewerage. 

ARCSA president, Tim Pope, is pursuing development of better filter to resist pollen. Global conference message  

The overriding concept that was communicated at these 2 conferences was the consensus that Integrated  Water Management for urban & rural, consisting of rain water harvesting, potable disinfection, gray water  reuse, black water reclamation, constructed wetlands for bio-remediation, & storm water retention & re-use, 

flood control, food growing irrigation, maintaining watershed health is the future for all civilization to meet  demands of human basic needs. We all need water & we all need to manage it. 

Over 40 countries were represented at these conferences. 

Currently 2 billion (1/3 of earth’s 6 billion population) people do not have access to clean sanitary water 

Tremendous power creating greenhouse gas emissions is created pumping water from industrial scale  water supplies to industrial scale waste water processing plants. Local collection processing radically  reduces those GHG (Green House Gases).  

Aquifers are being over used by civilization, going dry, getting polluted with arsenic & fluoride, salt ocean  water siphons in laterally at aquifers adjacent to the coast.  

Australian studies have shown that new dams or new de-desalinization facilities will cost more than  updating every home to integrated water management, with the added benefit of home owners managing  their water system, & jurisdiction relieved of annual budget to maintain infrastructure of a dam or  desalination. 

Developers should first acquire water entitlements. Economists under value benefits of water ways & lifting  water literacy. Suburbs of the future will collect roof water, collect storm water & utilize open space  watering, reduce evaporation, smart metering, Mains prices to vary peak & off peak, water scarcity pricing  will cost 2 to 3 times extra in droughts, apartment occupants o get individual water bills,  

We need to be thinking about carbon taxes WSUD (Water Sensitive Urban Design) needs to be made  mainstream. We need fully integrated water policy 

Conventional hydrology is 18th century public health engineering level. Some regions have grown 65% in  20 years. Water infrastructure hasn’t kept up with population increase. Recycled sewage water being used  for power station cooling water (western corridor water recycling scheme). Desalination is too energy  intensive. Grey water has gone from illegal to encouraged. New homes are now required to have R.W.T. )  Rain Water Technologies) plumbed into them. The home of the future will integrate R.W.T., gray water re use & storm water reuse.  

USA- by 2015, 20 USA cities will have populations over 10 million. 

In the past 5 years water cost has increased 27%. 36 states expect to have h2o shortages in the next 10  years under normal conditions. We need to either force conservation or develop alternative sources.  R.W.H. Provides a new source ,reduces power & greenhouse gas emissions. 12 states in USA currently  use R.W.H. We need to decentralize h2o supplies to minimize security fears.

Water promises to be to the 21st century as oil was to the 20th century. It will determine the wealth of  nations. 

Korea has 5000 years of successful water management governing the nation with 3 masters: rain, cloud, &  wind. Korea’s vision of the ultimate urban system integrates 3 tanks under each high-rise for : flood control,  water saving, & emergency reserve. Water monitoring of all tanks in urban area to water office to Internet  weather & emergency offices would empty all cisterns in advance of a major storm so that the cisterns are  empty at time of flood , so that the cisterns can be filled by the flood to offset that amount of water in the  storm drain overflow to watershed. 

Waste water & storm water bio retention systems either retain to re-use or infiltrate. See- Facility For  Advanced Bio-filtration FAWB.  

Goal- don’t create storm water runoff. Initiate & improve waste water re use @ the allotment scale. The UN says that 2/3 of the world population will have water scarcity by 2025 

Australian national agenda: cut greenhouse pollution, restore rivers, secure h2o supplies, build smarter  cities, and strengthen the environment. 

Water supply is directly related to the health of the atmosphere & the water shed. Australia currently  recycles 4 % of water. Goals are to recycle 40% by 2020. 

It will cost $3/4 billion to do R.W.H. on all homes in all major cities in Australia vs. $ 3.1 billion to build  desalination facilities. Bill is currently being reviewed proposing $1 billion/yr. rebates per yr. for 20 years  to upgrade all homes to R.W.H. & greening of homes. Goal to upgrade all homes within 1 generation. 

In 2005/2006 3 councils spent $4.8 million maintaining 20 water bodies, assumed to be under maintained.  Cost per HA of surface & $6500 to $17,000. there is a need for local guidance on design, maintenance,  remediation, consistent methods for collecting data, sustainable water management regime for all new  water bodies, storm water harvesting strategies, eco system protection, regional water supply strategy,  rainwater conveyance, attenuation, recharge pits, network with other water shed water, treat the water  before it goes into the piped water system, the top 20 cm has the best filtration w/ bio beneficial critters in it,  decentralized natural systems, occupant must use storm water or else infiltrate it. Development must come  up with a maintenance free system. ESC ecological storm drainage. Water related zoning:  recreational/natural/working. The restoration economy of environmentalism need to go from boutique to  mainstream. The future of ecology engineering is closed loop design. 

Canada has 25% of the world’s fresh water. Patrick Lucy & Carrie Barroclay are designing development on  Victoria Island where it’s population will double in 30 years. Currently there is no sewage system & all is  dumped into the ocean. The premiere & cabinet are looking for bio models to challenge & implement green  thinking on a large enough scale to enable whole city change to implementing integrated design to  accommodate capacity. Canadians are developing projects with a bio refinery. Integrated resource  management boards are implementing the urban version of the intention of permaculture (even though they 

don’t use that word) in that everything becomes a revenue stream. Nothing is waste. They envision a water  ministry/bio refinery/district heating/biodiesel factory/fertilizer plant/organic waste processing/bio gas plant.  Currently all parts exist fragmented on earth. We need to pull together peer review teams from around the  world. Canada will host Olympics in 2010.  

The environment can survive the water demand of cities & increasing populations if we have water policies  that legislate basic rights, have catchments management, demand management, mimic natures  ecosystems renewable energy & no waste, monitor & maintain our rivers in excellent health, implement bio  retention pre-filtering, monitor macro invertebrate health , aquatic plants health & biodiversity, atmospheric  management, light &noise pollution, to result in lovely elegant modernization strategies. All water on earth  is recycled. Evapo-transpiration is the engine that does it. 

I think that conference attendees learned that we are all one sharing the waters that are continually  recycled on this planet.  

This new business sector. It is exciting. Get ready to see the way human civilization does utilities &  appliances completely change. The companies & individuals who get their products & services on the  market can harvest abundant opportunities. 

All communities must become sustainable or perish, so they will all be becoming sustainable communities  to survive. 

Diverse conference presentations – 

Australia has a TV star with a show about growing food at your home- save h20, save energy, sustainable  gardens, create habitat, recycle wastes, and grow food. 

Uganda- women walk 10km daily to carry 15 to 20 liters of water. This absorbs most of their day. Women  money saving collectives are building concrete cisterns. African rainfall is sufficient to support 9 billion  people. 

Papua New Guinea – Aids workers have designed a water system for aids victims who have been out cast  form sharing society’s community water using 5 gal buckets for collection, bathing, cooking, & toilet  functions. 

International water conferences around the globe 

There is still a little bit of fear of the unknown in regards to jurisdictions allowing potable drinking water  disinfection techniques, use of gray water , & reclamation of black water. The conferences all over the  globe are a re-assurance that it is only a matter of time before all of the information for environmental  stewardship of water is shared all over the globe. 

WATER ORGANIZATIONS & CONFERENCES 

International Rain Catchment systems Assoc., 2008 conference 

International Water Assoc., 2008 Vienna conference, 2008 Korea conference 

American Rain Catchment Systems Assoc., 2008 Conference 

2008 Las Vegas conference  

World Health Water

United Nations water programs

International Water Technologies Conference, 2008 Egypt Conference

SUMMARY & POST CONFERENCE ACTIVITIES

2007 ARCSA President , Tim Pope, is developing a model code with NSF International, for design,  installation, & maintenance for RWH., (supported by Amer. Soc. of Plumbing Engineers & the first step in  creating a national code, as ASHRAE Amer. Soc. Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers) 

My wow at the beauty of Australia’s marine & botanical life renewed my commitment of Gaia tithing by  doing my part to network, cross pollinate policies, & participate in the open source type of international  academic sharing of water management techniques & collective intelligence.  

My intention is to populate my database of water links with water products, policies, & organizations. 

Author, Marilyn Crenshaw, www.theGreenArchitect.com, life member ARCSA, & ARCSA Certified  Professional, designs ultimate green building hybrid projects using site built, natural building, or prefab  structural systems, with fully integrated water management strategies.

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