Rainwater catchment is a bad idea for Vashon | Letter to the Editor

Published 1:01 pm Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Recently I received a copy of the Aug. 3 edition of The Beachcomber and was surprised to learn King County has approved a regulation allowing rainwater catchments as a household’s sole source of water.

For King County as a whole, this might be viable. For Vashon, which has a limited amount of this precious fluid, this could cause serious issues. It is evident all over the earth: Nations are experiencing increasingly extreme weather conditions and drought is a major problem. As a former Vashon resident, where water ran freely from the faucet and my toilet magically refilled with every flush, I have great concern over this new regulation. I warn you to proceed with caution.

Voluntary conservation could go a long way in avoiding water outages. I grew up in a household of many and one 30-gallon hot water tank. We each had seven minutes in the bathroom, three minutes with the water running. Turn the water on, wet up. Turn the water off. Soap and shampoo. Turn the water on to rinse. Never was the faucet running while we brushed our teeth. This was not because of a shortage of water; this was because we were a large household and were taught to be conscience of our water use. I was living in a college dorm with shared showers before I learned you could leave the water running through the entire shower.

In Jamaica, I live the reality of a catchment system. It is not as dependable as you may think. I hear arguments over water as the water truck rolls around each corner to make deliveries. It can get ugly as we struggle to obtain some of this scarce fluid.

I imagine the roads of Vashon lined with barrels, pails and tubs and large groups of residents awaiting water trucks. Not a pretty sight. Think of the cost of trucking water on the ferries to fill these barrels! Water is a precious and scarce commodity on my island, which is only miles from yours.

— Tressa Azpiri