So let me get this straight, in order to not draw down the aquifer you are going to cut off the feed to it....sounds a little asinine to me. I think I'm going to have to dump 15,477 gallons out of my faucet each year just to offset this ******* who is cutting off the aquifers source. Its all a huge circle, this "Green" beer is probably no less environmentally harmful that any other beer. What about all the filtering that has to be done to this rainwater, something tells me they are probably using the oh so bad coal fired energy to power the pumps. This is whole thing is just a marketing ploy....I'm sure it probably worked out pretty good too.
i don't consider rain clouds above a major city such as atlanta to be "green"
The sense in using rainwater is that its not coming from the aquifer. In some places, including my former home in Moscow, Idaho, the aquifer level is dropping at an alarming rate (1-2 feet per year). This being our only source of water in the area, and not knowing how deep the aquifer actually goes, the concern was that if we continued to use groundwater at the same or greater rate, we may run out. Utilizing rainwater, even just for irrigating your garden or lawn, can offset your water bill and consumption significantly (lots of research has been done on this), and on this larger scale can be even more significant. As for how much area is needed to produce enough water to brew? Well, you may be surprised.
Collection Area (sq. ft) x Rainfall (in/yr.) / 12 (in/ft) = Cubic Feet of Water/Year
Cubic Feet/Year x 7.43 (Gallons/Cubic Foot) = Gallons/Year
So, working with the example of Five Seasons Brewery in Atlanta, where average annual rainfall is 50 in/yr., a 500 sq. ft roof will produce 2,083 Cubic Feet or 15,477 Gallons of water per year.
So, if we consider brewing at the 7bbl level (217 gal.), and that it takes roughly 5 times that amount of water to produce the beer (mash, evap, cooling, cleaning, etc), that's 1085 gal. per batch. That means from the 15,477 gal. collected, you could brew 14, 7bbl batches of beer, and still have a few hundred gallons leftover. This water is FREE (it just falls from the sky!) so think about how much money would be saved by the brewery, and how quickly they would pay for the tanks, pipe, filters and other equipment for this setup. Also consider how much water was not pumped out of the aquifer. And remember, this is with only 500 sq. ft. of roof! It's a wonder to me that more people don't collect and use rainwater...
And, to give you an idea of how much volume 15,000 gallons is, here's a visual aid. Each tank can hold 15,000 gallons. Notice the guy standing between the two tanks to give you a sense of scale.
I think I'm going to have to dump 15,477 gallons out of my faucet each year just to offset this ******* who is cutting off the aquifers source.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Glad another landscape architect could come in and explain some things.
There's a flaw in that argument. When you pour water down the drain in a lot cases it doesn't recharge the aquifer. If you're on a septic system, then yeah, but if you are hooked up to a city sewer system then the water you pour down the drain gets dumped in to rivers and flows out of the aquifer recharge zones.
Also look at it from a different point of view. Part of the problem with development is the increase of impervious cover. This in turn cause a larger portion of water to flow quicker. Flash flooding and erosion soon become a major problem, not to mention all the pollutants in that water. Part of the idea of low-impact development is to slow the time of concentration to the destination water body. A normal storm sewer system will collect the water from a site and take it off site as quickly as possible. Let's just say for example our time of concentration is 40 minutes for a typical site. More progressive systems will slow that water down either using vegetation and soil or will harvest it and slowly release it back in to the system via irrigation or gray water systems. Time of concentration in these systems can be in the order of hours and days, thus reducing flooding and nutrient load.
You can almost say in a sense that this brewery is increasing the time of concentration for their site. Instead of it all flowing off and in to the nearest river within minutes, it is now slowed and passed through the brewing process and then our urinary processes. Suddenly the volume from one rain storm is slowly released back in to the environment over the course of several months.
So I think I'll do my part and drink this beer and when I have to pee I'll walk out my back door and take a leak. "I promise, Officer, I'm just recharging the aquifer."
And Atlanta like NY uses surface water for its drinking water so the aquifer argument is moot .
That's only people hooked up to city water. That doesn't include rural areas that rely on wells connected to ground water.
I filter my pee to make my beer, want to try some? Talk about going green, I got those guys beat! I call it IPB.
well ya but were talking about a place in the city who is hooked up to city water his use has no effect on the aquifer outside the city.
i really think the guy is just trying to save money. Family friend lives in Atlanta and is charge for water coming in and the same water going out the sewer. So a brewpub is most likely paying out the ass as they use a lot of water.
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