Team Blog #3

Today we began the final phases of our model house construction. Tyler Elliott brought in a new and improved wooden model house, that proved to be constructed of much higher quality materials and precision than our original plastic board model. We cut our vertical gutters to scale on the band saw, and spray painted the roof black. The gutters were attached using zip ties and hot glue. A small pump has been set aside for delivering water to the roof that is capable of pumping up to two feet. It will be submerged in water inside the house during the demonstration and will have a special hole drilled in the upper wall of the house for clear vinyl tubing to distribute water along the roof’s surface to simulate rainfall. The vinyl tubing will disperse the water (rainfall) onto both sides of the roof into the rain water collection system. One of the roof panels is removable so we have access to the water storage container that the pump will be drawing from. The holes were drilled at the end, in the bottom of the gutters for the downspouts. Both downspouts will drain into the same “rain barrel” for water collection.

The main idea of the house model is to demonstrate water conservancy through the concept of a rainwater collection system with a rain barrel. The collected water can then be used for recreational purposes or be treated and used for consumption if treated. Every little bit of water collected may help limit the water runoff amount during a rain storm and reduce the amount of load exerted on the local water treatment facility. Vermont is not typically a state that is thought of as requiring water conservation, but unfortunately experiences drought just like anywhere else in the United states, however maybe not to the same extremes. The system that we are trying to demonstrate could allow residences to collect and store their own water for times of need, as well as potentially minimize local flooding in times of heavy rain. Water conservation comes in many forms and applications, but it typically has not been used in the sense that we are primarily proposing, which is flood prevention. What we as a team hope to accomplish is to show just what equipping a standard home with water conservation methods might look like, and to educate the public on an issue that they may not even be aware exists in Vermont.