by Craig Lauridsen
MMWD recently hosted a three-day Rainwater Harvesting & Accreditation Workshop at the College of Marin’s Indian Valley Campus. While rain was pouring outside, in the classroom 30 interested students learned all about capturing this valuable resource. The students came from various backgrounds and included landscape professionals, plumbers, city and county employees, non-profit employees, and others. Billy Kniffen, with American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA), used his extensive knowledge and firsthand experience in teaching the workshop. In addition to being an ARCSA instructor, Billy depends 100 percent on rainwater for all of his indoor and outdoor water needs at his home in Menard, Texas.
Day one of the workshop (Level 100) introduced rainwater harvesting in non-potable applications, such as landscape irrigation Days two and three (Level 200) dove into this subject and covered design, installation, outdoor and in-home use, sanitation, rules and regulations, and more. To learn more about these workshops and the Association’s upcoming events, visit www.arcsa.org.
The workshop was particularly timely as MMWD has recently formed a partnership with the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) to launch the “10,000 Rain Gardens Project.” This community-based program is designed to provide FREE rainwater harvesting resources (technical, design assistance) to residents and businesses that are MMWD customers. To learn more about this program please visit www.spawnusa.org.
