Brad will be presenting at the conference Dec. 3 at 1pm.
Here’s a brief synopsis of the presentation:
Plant the Rain, Recycle Your Drain Water, and Save Energy; While Growing Resilience, Abundance, and Joy
by Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, and HarvestingRainwater.com
 
In most communities – even dryland communities more rain falls (for free) on the community than all its citizens consume of municipal water. Thus the potential of harvesting rainwater is huge, especially when one considers the energy and monetary costs of pumping and transporting water. 20% of the state of California’s energy consumption goes to transporting and treating water. In the City of Tucson it is over 44%.
Water-harvesting potential and energy savings dramatically increase still more when you integrate it with the recycling of once-used water, or greywater. You don’t need to buy tanks, pumps, and filters—you can grow them in a way that heats buildings in winter and cools them in summer for free. Gravity-fed systems and pipeless systems can also be utilized which never fail from power outages or leaks.
Integrating water-harvesting with flood control takes things even further, by shifting the focus from drainage to infiltration—results in millions of dollars saved per project, enhanced quality of life, and more income for cities and businesses.
Bleak streets and parking lots of exposed pavement can become street food forests and parking orchards irrigated with nothing more than the stormwater from the hardscape. Storm drains become storm parks. Crime drops, the heat-island effect becomes the cool-island effect, and life flourishes. This is available to us all everywhere if we make a simple mental shift. Numerous case studies and strategies to be shared, along with Water-Energy-Carbon Nexus charts for at-home perusal comparing the energy consumption of various sources of water, water needs of various energy sources (that may be used to pump or treat that water), and the carbon emitted by the water and energy sources.
 
For more info on the conference see:
https://www.arcsa.org/event/2019conference