Jen, who writes Vino for The Kitchen, is in Bermuda and sent us these great pics yesterday (we found more and put them below the jump). (Thanks, Jen!)
I put together a little Bermuda collage for you - notice the stepped roofs, the steps collect rainwater which gathers into an underground tank. Each house collects enough rainwater for all their water needs! The water is, of course, filtered.
Wow, I wish we had some kind of clever yet beautiful water collection system out here in the deserts of southern Arizona, where golf courses and new developments spring up overnight. But I guess that's as crazy an idea in the desert as developing affordable solar power.
I read somewhere that the indiginous architecture of Bermuda inspired the original illustrations in the Wizard of Oz.
For another thing, the stepped Bermuda roofs are painted with lime, which helps purify the water before it is collected in the tanks. I love Bermuda; my great-great-whatever-grandfather was shipwrecked there whilst traveling to Jamestown on the Sea-Venture.
Actually, the steps break up the force of the rain and wind, by providing more surface area. There is a sort of spiral rim toward the bottom that does the rain collecting, siphoning off the water from all 4 sides into one gutter. You can just see one in the bottom picture above, to the right of the chimney in the middle...
"This Old House" did a series in Bermuda. Those roofs are covered with a special 'potable water harvest' coating, and the collection system leads to the city for treatment and redistribution, they said. Water is so scarce that it's law to build roofs this way.
Travelling down under, I saw many many metal roofs/cistern combos designed to collect water. When we next replace our roof, we are going to do the same, as that's much more in keeping with a frame house. But it will be white to keep down the AC bill.
It's true that it's the law. Each house is requried to have "x" amount of coverage per person living in the house, the water funnels off the roof through tubes and gutters into an underground tank beneath the house. I am not too sure about it going to the city.
In Bermuda they also encourage water regulation on all fronts, from watering the lawn to turning off the shower while you soap and shampoo. It is so refreshing, pun intended, to see these sensible practices in place.