Design for Water: Rainwater Harvesting, Stormwater Catchment, and Alternate Water Reuse (Paperback)

by Heather Kinkade-Levario (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In an era of dwindling resources, water is poised to become the new oil. The entire world now faces the reality of a decreasing supply of clean water. To avert a devastating shortage, we must not only look at alternate water sources for existing structures but must plan our new developments differently.

Design for Water is an accessible and clearly written guide to alternate water collection, with a focus on rainwater harvesting in the urban environment. The book:

Outlines the process of water collection from multiple sources-landscape, residential, commercial, industrial, school, park, and municipal systems
Provides numerous case studies
Details the assembly and actual application of equipment
Includes specific details, schematics, and references

All aspects of rainwater harvesting are outlined, including passive and active system setup, storage, storm water reuse, distribution, purification, analysis, and filtration. There is even a section on rainwater harvesting for wildlife.

In addition to rainwater, there are several affordable and accessible alternate sources, including cooling tower bleed-off water, air conditioning condensate, gray water, and fog collection. Design for Water is geared to providing those making development decisions and guidelines with the information they need to set up passive harvesting techniques. The book will especially appeal to engineers, landscape architects, municipal decision-makers, developers, and landowners.

Heather Kinkade-Levario is a land-use planner in Arizona and the author of the award-winning Forgotten Rain. She is president of Forgotten Rain L.L.C., a rainwater harvesting and stormwater reuse company.

About the Author
Heather Kinkade-Levario is the Arizona Director of Planning. A land use planner for 22 years, she is also the President of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association and has served on the US Green Building Council's Water Efficiency Technical Advisory Group. Her award-winning book, Forgotten Rain, Rediscovering Rainwater Harvesting was published in 2004.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: New Society Publishers (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865715807
• ISBN-13: 978-0865715806
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #144,990 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #18 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Civil > Environmental > Water Quality & Treatment
  #24 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Environment > Water Supply

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Resource, September 29, 2007

By	James P. McMahon "www.cleanairpurewater.com" (Brookside, UT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am recomming this book to my customers who are considering rainwater collection. The book contains detailed explanation of collecting rainwater as well as conveyance and storage. The only downside, from my perspective, is that the purification section is deficient. Rainwater today can contain mercury and pesticides in addition to particulate it collects as it falls. I felt this aspect of the discussion was misleading in its brevity. But if you are looking for a book that provides an array of examples for collection and storage of rainwater, this book is an excellent resource to use in planning your system.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth buying, January 23, 2009

By	Reader Of Books "Victor" (Highland, WI) - See all my reviews

I was hoping to learn the details of setting up a rain water harvesting system with not only this book but what I have learned by scanning the internet. This book was of little help. It turns out I knew more from sites I found on the internet (with better photos) than the information gleaned from this book.

The images in this book are of little to no help. They are all black & white (not a bad thing) and printed small and rather poorly. The points of view illustrated in most of the images beg the question - why show this? The lighting of the interior views is poor, also subtracting from their usefulness. The diagrams are very basic and some are printed far too small to be useful. Only the complete neophyte will find use from this information.

I would recommend finding this book at your library first before dropping the money on this one. I only wish my library had the book so I could have saved the money.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most comprehensive, December 6, 2008

By	Laurence J "rashomon" (saugerties, ny) - See all my reviews

Of the books I have read on the subject, including those by Brad Lancaster, this is the most comprehensive, with abundant diagrams and photographs. Levario covers both residential and commercial applications, so there may be material that is not pertinent to the average homeowner, and some of the applications described may be beyond the reach of said homeowner, but if you're only going to buy one book on the subject, make it this one.