Hays Consolidated Independent School District
Overview
- Category: Education
- Sponsor: Richard W. Schneider, President, Buda Area Chamber of Commerce
- Project Lead: Rod Walls, Director of Facilities, Hays CISD
- System Location: 21003 I-35, Kyle, TX 78640 and 4410 RR 967, Buda, TX 78610
- Capacity: 106,000 gallons
- Water Use: Non-potable (irrigation)
Background and System:
The Hays Consolidated Independent School District serves nearly 15,000 students and includes 20 campuses located throughout the Kyle and Buda communities. The school district has been a leader in water conservation and took the initiative to install rainwater harvesting systems at two of their new campuses (Carpenter Hill and Ralph Pfluger elementary schools)that opened in 2010. The system at each campus consists of two 53,000-gallon metal tanks (total of 106,000-gallons of capacity) that collect rainwater flowing off about 44,000 square feet of roof area. Condensate (approximately 2,900 gallons per 12 hours when the system is running at peak capacity) from the rooftop HVAC systems is also collected in the tanks. The harvested rainwater and condensate water are pumped to the gardens at the school and used to irrigate the grass and native vegetation. Excess rainwater is channeled to an onsite detention pond and allowed to infiltrate into the subsurface.
More information about the rainwater and HVAC condensate collection system is available in the site plan.
On the educational side, the systems are being used to teach math, science, and ecology to kids in the schools. For the future, three existing schools in the district are planning to build their own systems with funding that they have received from the Hill Country Alliance.
