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Water Use at Home on the Range
Home on the Range uses 160 gallons of water a day, or about one third the average use of a building this size.
Home on the Range fosters better stewardship of the area’s precious water resources through conservation
and reduced runoff. Here’s how!
Permeable Parking Lot
Rather than a traditional asphalt or concrete parking lot, we wanted to use
a technology that would recharge the aquifer instead of burdening the city’s
storm water system. We chose a permeable parking system called GravelPave2
by Invisible Structures. This is a grid of rings (100% recycled plastic) over a
geotextile fabric that holds the small gravels in place, making it more stable.
This system is approved for wheelchairs. An additional bonus is that this type
of parking lot has a longer lifespan than asphalt. As part of a pilot project with
the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, we used 100% recycled
glass cullet instead of gravel in the top layer. We were excited to be a part of this
project to showcase a product that is produced in Montana and that, in turn,
could promote glass recycling in more of the state. 
Composting Toilets and Waterless Urinal
We decided to use composting toilets and a waterless urinal to conserve water,
a precious resource. By doing so, we save 30,000 gallons of water a year. We
will also be turning our waste into a useful product while reducing the pressure
on the city sewer system. The system will incorporate two different composting
methods to compare side by side. We believe this will help in providing an actual
demonstration on the different systems one can use, and encourage others to use
composting systems. If we can get more households and businesses to use
composting toilets, or at least waterless urinals, we would save a great deal of water,
no small matter in our semi-arid region. We are using the Carousel Composting Toilet
System by Ecotech, and Sun-Mar “Centrex 3000”. |
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