Recognizing Raleigh!

Today, Raleigh's Fire Station #6 on Fairview Road, was recognized by the The City of Raleigh, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources for it's success with a project created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The focus of the event were the benefits and simplicity of a cistern system installed at nine Raleigh area fire stations and a Wake County EMS Station and the Willow Springs Fire Station. The project, paid for almost entirely with grants from the federal ARRA and a grant from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, installed a system of cisterns to harvest rainwater from the roofs of the stations. The cisterns are capable of collecting more than 4,000 gallons of rainwater at each location.

The collected water is stored above ground and used by the firefighters when cleaning equipment or vehicles. At some of the stations, the water is used for irrigation in gardens. The City also installed rain gardens at five of the stations. At the other stations, the water drains to an existing vegetative patch.

The system reduces demand on Raleigh's drinking water supply, promotes water conservation, decreases stormwater runoff, reduces water pollution, and serves as an educational tool for the community on the possibilities of rainwater harvesting. The rainwater collection system is expected to save more than 40,000 gallons of water annually.

The complete list of fire stations using the water conserving cisterns:

•Raleigh Fire Station 6 - 2601 Fairview Road;
•Raleigh Fire Station 8 - 5001 Western Boulevard;
•Raleigh Fire Station 22 - 9350 Durant Road;
•Raleigh Fire Station 23 - 8312 Pinecrest Road;
•Raleigh Fire Station 24 - 10440 Fossil Creek Court;
•Raleigh Fire Station 25 - 2740 Wakefield Crossing;
•Raleigh Fire Station 26 - 3929 Barwell Road;
•Raleigh Fire Station 27 - 5916 Buffaloe Road;
•Raleigh Fire Station 28 - 3500 Forestville Road;
•Wake County EMS Station 8 - 1361 Varsity Drive; and,
•Willow Springs Fire Station - 2474 Bud Lipscomb Road, Willow Springs