Water Harvesting system

Recently a homeowner came to our ACR committee with a plan for a deck which wold cover a water harvesting system. I'm not talking merely a rain barrell. I'm talking two 7 foot high, stainless steel tanks that hold almost 5000 gallons of water each. The deck will need to be 10 feet tall to cover the tanks and he proposes using lattice and perhaps ivy to cover the area. Neighbors are having a fit to put it mildly.

Does anyone have experience with something of this scale? I applaud his attempt to be green but these things are HUGE. We are having a difficult time weighing his right to be green against his neighbors right to not have something ugly and in their view potentially dangerous right by their back yard.

We are a 300 home community in the country on .25 acre lots.

Thanks!!

food for thought:

do the children of the earth have the right to clean drinking water?

or does the lawn take precedence?

? Are y'all aware that the American lawn uses more water than ALL the American farms combined?

KUDOS TO THE CISTERN INSTALLER!

The others are just plain selfish / greedy / envious!

An ivy covered lattice below an expensive deck !

? Eye Sore ?

{rant over}

also if these were to be gravity pumped than adding a solar powered well pump shouldn't be too big of a deal and would allow the person to maintain the "GREEN" aspect of the system

Mia,

Here is some info:

Virginia Rainwater Harvesting Manual 2009

Stormwater Design Guidance - Rainwater Harvesting from Maryland Department of the Environment

Rain Barrels and Cisterns from montgomerycountymd.gov

Rain Water Harvesting Regulations - State by State I wouldn't necessarily trust the content without verification but The Maryland page has a lot of additional links.

Water Harvesting from mda.maryland.gov website

MD Department of Agriculture Website

Hope they help,

Tim