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Tips, Technology and Common Sense
Solutions for a Thirsty World sustainable structures. It is simply the smart thing to do, for the
environment and permanency of the building, as well as delivering
long-term cost savings to owners.
Incorporating a rain cistern often can help a project on its way
to LEED certification. It’s also an important strategy in the Living
Building Challenge, the industry’s most rigorous performance
standard, which requires net-zero environmental impact.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Brock Environmental Center
in Virginia Beach, Va., is one of the world’s greenest buildings.
The 10,500-square-foot building is Living Building and
LEED platinum certified and features solar panels, wind turbines,
geothermal wells, composting toilets and rain cisterns, which capture
water that is then treated for all potable uses. It is the first and only
Living Building to date that has been approved by governing health
officials for drinking.

THE BIOSWALE: MORE IN THE TRENCHES
Bioswales, which are most often seen in large parking lots and
major roadways, are designed to manage rainwater runoff.
These linear trenches, which are vegetated with plants that can
withstand heavy watering and drought, allow for the collection,
filtration and infiltration of storm water. They also help prevent
overwhelmed sewers from discharging waste into streets and
waterways during storms.
In practice, these systems can be incorporated into building and
infrastructure designs to lower the need for irrigation and, in rain-
prone areas, potentially eliminate the need for irrigation systems. Of CREDIT: DAVE CHANCE
We take for

granted the free All right as rain. Rain cisterns at Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s
Brock Environmental Center capture water that is then treated for
all potable uses. It is the only building thus far approved by
resource that is governing health officials for drinking.
with bioswales, are seen in urban and residential settings. These
rainwater, which are similar, but smaller systems for intercepting storm water that
would otherwise flow onto city streets, again managing and making
around the world is rapidly use of a free resource.
In buildings, this can go beyond solutions on the ground level.
becoming a scarcity crisis. Green roofs have a number of benefits, but one of the most obvious
is catching and retaining rainwater like their bioswale counterparts,
slowing discharge so that stormwater systems aren’t overwhelmed
— Elizabeth Heider during major storm events. In cities like Washington, D.C., that have
combined storm and sewer systems, slowing down the flow keeps
course, it comes with the added benefit of easing erosion and even sewage from overflowing into waterways. As the built environment
property damage from flowing stormwater and flooding. grows, permeable surfaces are needed to collect and manage
The Expo Line Phase 2 project in California, which is the extension rainwater. Green roofs are a great way to do just that.
of the light rail service from the current terminus in Culver City to These strategies to harvest and manage rainwater runoff share
Santa Monica, has incorporated a bio-filtration system, which has two common elements: They are cost effective and environmentally
similarities to a bioswale. The landscaping design was installed along beneficial. Rainwater is a free resource that we take for granted,
the alignment and adjacent to the Expo Line bike bath. The project, but that needs to change. We need to be advocates in our local
which received Envision Platinum certification from the Institute communities. The buck stops here. GB
for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) and is the first transit project to
receive the certification, had a calculated potable water savings of Elizabeth Heider is chief sustainability officer for Skanska, U.S.A.
27 percent below industry standard. The company specializes in construction, civil infrastructure, public-
Rain gardens, a concept that is sometimes used interchangeably private partnerships and commercial development initiatives.

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