Another Use For Rainwater

"This is a really great example of the experiential real world education that we are really trying to engage students in," says teacher Chris Hartman.

Students are capturing the rain that runs off the field house roof. A series of buried hoses transport it to a tank at the Micro Farm. Harley Senior Nate August says, "the pressure will push the water all the way down and up into our tank here."

The students have a lot of water to work with more than 250,000 gallons of rain falls on that field house roof every year.

"We have about a thousand gallons of stored rainwater that we can use to irrigate the garden here," Hartman adds.

Students came up with the design and planned the whole thing out. The learning continues, as they put their plan into action. "There's a green tint to it and some life forms. We've seen stuff like that but were are not too concerned. We will see how it goes and go from there," says August.

Fellow Senior Luisa Barbano says, "I absolutely love it out here. I like to feel that I am a part of something overarchingly important both to the community and sustainability"

They hope that these seeds of knowledge will grow to reach many others too. "If we're successful it is going to encourage other schools other people in their homes try out this project and hopefully they will be successful as well."