Amherst College
OP-23: Rainwater Management

Create water efficient landscaping. Limit the use of potable water for landscape irrigation. Perform a soil/climate analysis. Determine appropriate landscape types and design the landscape with indigenous plants to reduce or eliminate irrigation requirements. Eliminate permanent irrigation systems through use of indigenous plant materials, allowing for temporary "quick couple" systems during the establishment period or extreme drought. Consider high-efficiency irrigation systems such as drip irrigation or soaker hoses. Collect and use rainwater or gray water for landscape irrigation, urban gardening and site washing purposes. Implement water use reduction strategies. Maximize water efficiency within buildings to reduce the burden on municipal water supply and wastewater systems. Use high-efficiency fixtures. Consider the use of low-flow toilets and urinals. Consider reusing storm water and gray water for non-potable applications such as toilet and urinal flushing, mechanical systems and custodial uses. Consider use of automatic, usually spring-loaded, shut-off controls on sinks to lower water usage. Improve water efficiency of HVAC equipment. Do not use "one pass" cooling units that use potable water and discharge it to a drain, as is typically used for computer room installations and supplementary space cooling. Improve water efficiency of water-cooled cooling towers. Provide metering for both the makeup and the blowdown rate. Use a water analysis program to monitor water quality and to minimize blowdown rate. Consider alternatives to chemicals for cooling tower make-up water. Use horizontal axis, Energy Star compliant clothes washers.