Water Usage | Housing Well
Wellness requires a home, a safe place of shelter and belonging. Sweet Water Foundation is focused on building and reconstructing housing at The Commonwealth because a thriving community can only exist when the individuals within it are stable. The cultivation of new homes is required to continue healing this neighborhood, its land and its people, and re-rooting people in community through arts, culture, and housing.
4.1” 4.1”
4.0” 4.0”
3.8”
3.3” 3.2” 3.4”
2.7” 2.1”
3.6”
1.8”
With Chicago’s average annual rain fall of 39 inches, more than 300 gallons of water can be collected from the roof, stored and reused for gardening
Chicagoland Climatic Data Chicago Climatic Data taken from Weather-us.com
Existing Rainwater Gutter
520sf of roof surface to catch rainwater
40’
13’ Graphic taken from: Bill Olkowski, Helga Olkowski, and Sim Van der Ryn. The Integral Urban House: Self-Reliant Living in the City. 1979
South Elevation of [Re]Construction House
1 Rainwater collected from roof
2 Distributed to 50 gallon water barrel
3 Monarch Tower rainwater catchment used for drip irrigation in the family garden