Rainwater Cistern

The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design must collect more water than it consumes on an annual basis to function as a net positive water facility – one of the many requirements to achieve Living Building Challenge 3.1 certification. Due to the humid and rainy conditions in the Southeast (Atlanta receives a level of rainfall every year that is on par with Seattle), the building is expected to harvest 460,000 gallons of water a year. To hold all this water, the building will house a 50,000-gallon cistern in the basement of the building. 

Like all living things, the cistern will need to replenish itself and will do so by collecting rainwater from the roof.  Overflow for the system is designed to work with the natural slope of the topography to most effectively manage the volume and rate of water flowing throughout the site. These systems include a stormwater raingarden and trickle filter under the porch plaza as well as a series of constructed wetlands and edible landscape areas with subsurface infiltration. In addition, there will be rainwater catchments on the roof of the building to collect stormwater before it reaches the ground.