[james.parera]

Hi All

I am very interested in the rain water collection system which is an environment friendly design application.
I am in my thesis year right now, and would like to know more about these systems.


we will highly appreciate your feed back.
Thanks in advance.
James

[B.lock]

I see that you are located in the Northeast, so I don't know if this is an option.
Aquascapes Inc. (located in the suburban Chicago area) is conducting a national training seminar and open house this weekend - July 12th thru the 15th.
They're introducing a new rainwater harvest system that collects off permeable paver systems. We've laid permeable pavers before but never over a EPDM rubber membrane... this should be interesting. It's the first time we'll run downspouts over pavers intentionally.

[papercutter]

That sounds bizarre! What's the advantage to that over, say, redirecting water over impervious paving to an infiltration zone? I'm guessing that's what you're doing anyhow by running the liner under the pavement, right?

[Stonehenge]

Hmm - located in the northeast of India, maybe. (I checked his IP address ) Color me skeptical when you want to learn about rain harvesting systems while simultaneously advertising a rain harvesting outfit in your signature.

When you crack open the tin, spam has a very distinct smell.

[Chris Heiler]

I went to their website and filled out the information application just to see what would happen.

I got a sales call a few hours later...

[papercutter]

Oh, the link that was in dude's signature line? Yeah, that seemed like forum-spamming and there are better systems for that anyhow. But I want more details on what B. lock mentioned- I've never heard of that!

[Stonehenge]

Y'know, I didn't even read that. It is interesting. I wonder how it's being marketed. If it's supposed to be a green thing, I wonder how green it really is - EPDM liners feeding into EPDM-lined water features. If there are lots of plants in the pond, then long term it might be a benefit. If not, maybe it's just a cost savings to the client (and maybe a savings on the local water treatment plant).

[B.lock]

I'm not endorsing any particular rainwater collection system... I'm strictly a paver guy. In fact, my concerns regarding compaction (consolidation) of CA-7 over liner and structural preformance of the collection system over vehicular installations render me more of a skeptic.

But there may be a few positives. Surface pitch and run-off, critical in standard paver installations, now becomes almost insignificant.
If my intention is to reuse rainwater for irrigation, I would prefer to use water filtered through CA-16 and CA-7 limestone than direct surface run-off.

As I mentioned earlier, water is not my field of expertise. In fact, as a paver installer, it is often a mortal enemy. Yet I do remain open-minded enough to try something new... and I hate spam!

[Lanelle]

The rationale for people 'wanting' a collection system is often determined by local regulations that prohibit water runoff from leaving a property thus the owner has to deal with stormwater onsite. When the space is tight, placing a collection system under a parking area which will either allow the water to slowly leach out or be reused is a good option.
There is another company making 'Rain Tanks' that are similar to the Aquascape blocks.

[papercutter]

It's the liner thing that has me baffled. I'm sure Lanelle and I have run into the same regs she mentions in NoVA where the amount of impervious surface is limited to a percent of lot size, even on residential jobs. So I've had to either spec permeable pavement, or rain gardens/ infiltration trenches in order to get that driveway or accessory structure through. That being the case, I'd assume that the liner is only under the pavers, right? Because the goal would be to allow the water to percolate through and be filtered by the soil, as in a typical infiltration trench?

[B.lock]

The liner runs under the entire system, including the Aquascape blocks. It directs all water to the storage basin area for future use. There is an overflow to an infiltration trench and also, the open aggregate supporting the pavers becomes a secondary storage area.
The liner is protected by underlayment fabric on both sides; this maybe a positve for longterm preformance of our pavers. Here's what I'm thinking, direct downward forces on open graded aggregate lack the ability to direct force laterally - in comparison to a standard paver installation (where the fines provide greater lock-up and base support characteristics to the larger aggregates). Underlayment (especially a double layer) should help maintain base support as well as protect the rubber liner.

[yes.itsconcrete]

pavers aren't permeable, are they ??? certainly no where near the effectiveness of permeable concrete from what i've read,,, doesn't mean pavers don't have their place, either,,, just curious.

[Stonehenge]

The way they make them now, yes. I have not seen any data comparing the two, so for effectiveness, I can't say. For aesthetic value, concrete is, well, concrete. And that is as important with what we do as anything else (if not more).

[yes.itsconcrete]

thanks, stoney,,, i'll have to google 'em up & see what happens,,, we're dec conc artisans working, for the most part, on repairs & enhancing existing conc w/new placement only when its nec OR the $$$'re too good to refuse