Bars acquifers ace depleted and municipal water supplies are created with chlorine and other chemicals, an old technique, rainwater harvesting in cisterns and on roofs, is being looked ac with re- ewed interest. For landscape architects, rainwater collection asa means of ittigation offers many advantages, including lower ‘water cost over the lifetime ofthe system, ino withdrawal of groundwater, and a better quallty of water for cultivation and foe the maintenance of warerusing equipment. A few landscape architects ar using tainwvater harvesting in demonstration projects; as water costs continue to rise, the building of collection systems is ikely to accelerace Cisterns range ftom the simplesc sys- tems, in which an excavated bole provides simple storage of ground-level sheet flows, ‘0 of collection systems with storage in a constructed cistern. Historically, many cul- tures, including those of Meso-America, the Middle Bast, and ancient Rome, used cap- tured rainwater. Examples can be found in At the Colonia de Santa Ursula in Mexico, rainwater, top, Is conveyed to the orange cistern. Overfiow at the Garden of Eat'in, above, Is conveyed through a sculptural system, Rainwater Harvesting Axi ancient technology—cisterns—is reconsidered. rural Yemen, where the water was used for consumption and to irrigate the fields, and in urban Rome, where rainwater was col- lected from the roofed peristyle (covered walkway) and conveyed co. small pool (i pluvium) in an open garden—there to be Used as an aesthetic focal point and foe ieei- sgating the plantings. In Meso-American ‘ities such as Xochicalco, in central Mexico, water was collected from the plazas and Landscepe Architecture | 40 | avait 2000 rooftops within the city and stored in an underground cistern for human use and irrigation. In the United States in che sinceeenth and early twentieth centuries, small concrete ciscerns were common stor- age structures serving families seceling the high plains. The syscems ranged from large Civic infrasenaceuses to small cisterns for in- dividual homes. Even today in Yemen, paths and roads are laid out to drain intotechnology lange citcular masonry cisterns thae serve as civic meeting places for women coming to collect water for washing end for consump- tion. The scale of many of the ancient systems dwarfs caday’s cisterns. Deep in the bedeock beneath the old temple of Jerusalem lies a cistern with a capacity of ‘ovo million gallons, and beneach a large plaza in che complex of the Church of San- t0 Domingo in Oaxaca, Mexico, lies 2 200,000-Eieer capacity cistern that has re= cently been excavated, Today, in all new construction in both Beemnuda and the US. Viegia Islands, ain- -water harvesting systemsare required. The state of California offers @ tax credit for rinwater harvesting systems, and finan- Gal incentives are offered in cities in Ger- many and Japan. Systems have been Jnsealled in skyscrapers in Hong Kong. An «estimated 200,000 ciscems are now in use in the United Seates, storing rainwater for both consumption and ierigation, Probably che mest extensive contempo- rary example of rainwater collection is found ae the Lady Bird Johnson Wild- flower Genter near Austin, Texas, Since the centers establishment in 1992, rainwater has been harvested from 17,000 squace feet cof roof area with an estimated 300,000 gal- Ions collected and used per year. The proj- ect, designed by Overland Partnership ‘with Robert Anderson, landscape architect, incorporates four cisterns and wo 25,000- gallon fiberglass storage tanks, supplying water for subsurfice and pop-up irrigation systems and a series of native Texas demion- stration gardens. The largest of the ciscerns, the 10,000-gallon Tower Cistern, is ve- ricered in limestone and collects water from ‘The galvanized steel cistern at the Garden of Eat'in waters a demonstration garden, above. Stoneined cistems, below, were traditional in the highlands of Mexico. Historically, many cultures, including those of Meso- America, the Middle East, and ancient Rome, used captured rainwater. Landscape Architectuze | AB | arait 2000 the cafe and visitoe gallery. A life syseem pumps wacer Co the storage units ehat feed the larger site irrigation units. Smaller cs- terns and collection devices collect addi- sional water that is recirculated and used for aesthetic displays ‘Mose people living outside the Noeth- west would scoff at the seriousness of water shortages there, but in western Washington for tee months of the year there is virtually no rainfall. When stu- dents in the landscape architecture pro gram at the University of Washington in Seattle discussed cheir goals for a small courtyard next co a recently renovated community design cencer, they decided to address ecological issues by harvesting rainwater for irrigating an edible garden. Fifecen students, under the direction of Jecturer Luanne Smith and me, designed and buile che Garden of Eacin in a ten- week: spring studio in 1998. The thieteen- foot high, six-foot diameter cistern, fabricated from galvanized steel culvertpipe, is similar co residencial collection tanks used in rural Alaska. Its storage ca- pacity of 4,500 gallons will provide ap- proximately one-third co one-half of the irrigation needs of the garden. The under- ground drip system is gravity fed, and a valve allows the ground crew to switch to a pressurized system when the cistern runs dey. The water is gathered from the metal roof through a conventional gutcer and conveyed toa six-inch PVC roof-wash sys- tem. The clean water is carted to the cis- tem through a fous-inch PVC pipe, and the overflow is channeled into a sculpeural conveyance system and released into con- ventional seorm system. Given the small site and its use both as a demonstration garden and as a gathering area, it wes de- termined that the cistern should be verti- cal inscead of a wider form, thereby reducing the impact within the garden, ‘The tower has become an unexpected de- sign amenity, serving as an icoa for both the park and the west campus area. While the cost of the tank was high ($1,700, in- cluding fabrication and delivery), it will recoup its cost in seven years given current water prices—while keeping more water on site, thus facilitating groundwater recharge and reducing discharges inte the storm system. The use of cisterns for rainwater capeure has along tradition in the highlands of cen- tral Mexico, A smell cistern about four feet scjuaze and six feet in heighe often precedes the building ofa house, providing waver for construction and irrigation. Because of the lack of municipal water in the Colonia of Santa Ussula, a sonall rural community of ninety families southcsst of Mexico City, the ‘women hiked more than three miles the ‘Students from the University of Washington built the ferrocement clstem at Santa Ursula. closes river co wash clothes. The erip was often difficult, but the river suffered from pollution caused by detergents and from compaction of riparian vegetation. In fll 1998, fifteen University of Washington stu- dents and I joined with a Mexican nonpeof- ie group, Accion y Desaerollo Ecalogic, co ‘work with the community to design and build a rainwater harvesting system and Le- standeiis (ontdooe public undry). ‘The resulting latwndevia’s galvanized metal butterfly roof provides shade to the women using the wash basins below and collects and conveys water to a ewenty- foot-diameter,ten-foot-high ferroconcrete cistern anchoring the seruccure on the orth side. The wacer is chen gravity fed, Landscape Architecture | 44 | avait 2900 cor pumped, once it fills blow grade, into a smaller stone-clad open cistern from which the women take it for use in the washing sinks. The dirty wash water is then piped to a grease separator and €0 a biofiltration channel; che cleaned water is used (oirrigete an exchacd, Filtration be- teween the cistern and the roof catches any articulaces, The buile cistern, part of the fit phase, will provide one-third to one- half of the water needed during the dry season. The second phase includes plans fora larger thirty-fooe diamecer cistern to be added to detiver water throughout the dry petiod. The project serves asa demon- station mode, one that can be widely 2 ried out, relieving the natural systems of contamination and providing sustainable amenities co the community. DESIGN Arrainwacer harvesting system includes up ‘six primary components depending on the degrce of water quality requized. These components include a catchment area, 2 roof-wash system, a tainwater conveyance system, a cistern or storage containment, a delivery systern, and water treatment sys- tems. The most common contemporary catchment areas are roofs, Paved areas can also function as catchment susfaces, bue ‘greater contamination by oils, salts, and particulates requires increased filtration, and the delivery system typically requires pump.) Water quality should be considered when designing the roof. First, a roof buile of organic materials such as wooden shakes, clay tiles, or concretious materials suppor. the groweh of algae and molds and is noc advisable if the rainwacer is co be used for drinking AA second concern is the wash of dry pol- Iutants into the system. Porous or rough roofing materials (asphalt shingles or rolled roofing) are more likely told par- ciculates, including bird feces or heavy metals, than are smooth, impervious sur faces. One solution is a roof-wash system, Which capeuses the fsse cen co ewenty gal- lons of water in a separate pipe that takes away the first flush, allowing the heavier solids to fall co the base so that the water flowing into che collection syscem is relae tively frce of particulates, Porous materials also hold water, reducing collection effi ciency; asphaltic roofing, for example, has an absorption rate of 15 percent, while