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Harvesting the Rain, An Overview of the Rainwater Collection Systems at McKinney ISD
Abstract
The primary goal of sustainable design is to utilize
the natural resources offered by the surrounding
environment. Considering the drought conditions
over the past several years, water is a resource that
received significant consideration in the planning and
design phases at four elementary schools in
McKinney ISD.
By harvesting the rainwater from the roof of the
building and channeling this water into six oncampus
storage tanks, enough rainwater can be
collected to flush the toilets and irrigate the school's
lawn areas. The rainwater collection and utilization
system includes gutters to direct the water to the
cisterns, cisterns to collect the rainwater and pumps
to distribute the water. A floor plan of Walker
Elementary School is shown in Figure 1. Other
features of the system include a piping loop for tank
equalization, a circulation system for freeze
protection, a booster system for flushing, a tie-in to
City water for make-up water and chemical
treatment.
Another element of sustainable design is “eco
education” which is a concept that incorporates
sustainability into the curriculum so that students can
understand the design and how it impacts the
environment. By making this collection system
visible, it is a very powerful teaching tool for
students to learn about water conservation.
The purpose of this paper is to present detailed
information on the rainwater collection and
utilization system at four elementary schools in
McKinney ISD. This information will include
planning issues and considerations, design features
and constraints, construction needs and maintenance
and operation requirements.
Citation
Schreppler, S.; Estes, J. M.; Dupont, D. (2002). Harvesting the Rain, An Overview of the Rainwater Collection Systems at McKinney ISD. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /4570.