Harvesting Oregon’s bumper crop — rain

Farmers and city dwellers rediscover ancient practice of collecting rainwater

By Debby de Carlo

Pamplin Media Group, Apr 15, 2010

A 1,000-square-foot roof in the Portland area can capture 30,000 gallons of rainwater a year.

COURTESY / Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District

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Rainwater is abundant in the Portland area during the winter and spring, but summer is another story. Just when homeowners and farmers need water the most, Mother Nature gets skimpy.

That’s one reason Clair Klock is pushing an ancient practice: rainwater harvesting.

“Why are we using chlorinated, treated water for watering our plants and yards and flushing our toilets, when we could get 70 percent of the water from rain captured from the roof?” wonders Klock, senior resource conservationist for the Clackamas County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Whether it’s a 55-gallon rain barrel in the back yard or a 5,000-gallon tank on the farm, “the principles are the same,” Klock says. “The rain is captured from the roof with downspouts.”

A typical 1,000-square-foot roof in the Portland area can capture 30,000 gallons of rainwater a year, he says.

With more people moving into the Portland area, and agriculture a major industry in the Willamette Valley, the amount of available ground water is diminishing.

More people are seeing their wells run dry during the summer months, Klock says. One resident he talked to had three wells go dry, each one drilled deeper than the last.

Patti and Paul Jarret’s well ran dry at their Oregon City property, which includes a 40-tree orchard plus a large garden. They opted for a 12,000-gallon tank, filling it with rain water from a metal roof.

“The tank is expensive,” says Patti Jarret, “but it’s a lot cheaper than digging new wells.”

Harvesting rainwater can save significant sums of money.

Pacific University designed its Gilbert Hall dorm in Forest Grove and its new health building in Hillsboro to reuse rain water for toilets.

“There’s a significant difference in the sewer and water bill,” says Charles Arvidson, university construction manager. “We’re seeing a 30 percent savings in Hillsboro alone.”

Gilbert Hall, which has 150 residents and 75 toilets, was built with a 12,000-gallon storage tank buried underground. Rainwater from the storage tank is pumped to a 500-gallon tank in the basement. When someone flushes a toilet, that smaller tank supplies the water.

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