For the entirety of 2024, we were able met the water needs of our staff and visitors with the rainwater that fell on our campus! When we planned our water budget a decade ago, we figured with average rainfall, 11.3 inches a year in Tucson, we could live on rainwater all year long. And when we say live, we mean everything: washing hands, taking showers, cleaning dishes, doing laundry, watering veggie gardens and fruit trees, growing shade trees, and even drinking water. Everything BUT flushing toilets, which we promptly eliminated from the Living Lab when we first moved into the space over a decade ago and replaced with composting toilets.
Hydro-Local Living – 2016-2023
From 2016 - 2023, the Living Lab's water usage was an average of 86 gallons/day for a dozen staff members and 3000 annual visitors. We supplied 74% of our annual water use from rainwater and 26% from municipal sources. We had 4000 square feet of guttered roof area directed to our 10,000 gallons of rain tank storage capacity. Over this time period, the Living Lab received 4 to 15 inches of rain per year.
