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Medical Office Building in Region H Wins Award for Rainfall Harvesting System
January 24, 2008

A medical office building in Webster, TX was recently selected as the winner of the Texas Water Development Board’s (TWDB) Texas Rain Catcher Award.  The building’s design enables it to supply all irrigation and gray water needs using water collected on-site.  The innovative system harvests water from the building’s parking lot as well as from a dual purpose green roof that supports a grass vegetation cover and provides additional area for rainfall harvesting.  One inch of rainfall can generate as much as 47,400 gallons of harvestable water.  Up to 175,000 gallons of rainfall from the collection system can be stored in a series of box culverts under the parking lot, providing three months of irrigation and flush water (70 percent of the building’s total water demand).

In addition to reducing the building’s dependence on municipal water supply, the rainfall harvesting system provides economic advantages.  The facility is projected to save approximately $349,000 over the next 20 years, including $125,000 in initial construction costs and $224,000 for water, retention pond maintenance, and taxes.

For more information on the facility and TWDB’s Innovative Water Technologies Program see http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/iwt/rainwater/award07.html.

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