NBC29 WVIR Charlottesville, VA News, Sports and WeatherRainwater Harvesting Forum Held at CitySpace

Rainwater Harvesting Forum Held at CitySpace

Building professionals and others are learning how they can better utilize their own rainwater. The Center for Watershed Protection and a number of other organizations sponsored a Rainwater Harvesting forum Thursday at CitySpace in downtown Charlottesville.

The goal is to help understand the benefits and hurdles of harvesting rainwater, and what regulatory changes need to be made to increase its use.

Rainwater Management Solutions water specialist Sarah Lawson said, "There hasn't been a change yet to really account for these alternate water supplies, even though we're seeing a lot more use of it. Because it's a great way to save water, it's a great way to reduce runoff from the site, and sort of has a lot of benefits from that standpoint."

In the past several years, the industry has moved from a focus on increasing water supply to decreasing the amount of runoff in urban areas.