We are consulting on two rain water harvesting systems. One is in the city of San Gabriel, CA and the other in Pasadena, CA. One system is projected to be 12,000 gallons and the other just over 10,000 gallons of water. For both of these projects, we looked at several types of storage systems, all of which are underground units. Both of our projects are being built under either a parking lot or driveway, so they are designed to resist the H-20 loads of large vehicle traffic.
The CUDO cube is what our clients selected in both cases.
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We reviewed the products manufactured by-
| ADS | Water Quality Unit | 10,000 gal tank |
| Aquascape’s | Aquablox | Matrix Block |
| Atlantic | EcoBlox | Matrix Block |
| CUDO Stormwater Products | CUDO Cube | Cube |
| EcoRain Tanks | EcoRain Tanks | Matrix Block |
| Invisible Structures | Rainstore3 | Matrix Block |
| RainSub | RainSub | 10,000 gal tank |
| StormTech | Subsurface Stormwater Management | Underground Chambers |
We looked at the following factors-
- Strength
- Cost of the units
- Ease of assembly
- Freight costs to get the units to us
- Labor to install the units and peripheral items unique to each system
- Other costs to complete the installation such as liner, underlayment, the need for geomembrane, heavy equipment or cranes, etc.
- Access for future maintenance
We found that few products offer features that make them unique, most just copy what is already on the market. Other than rain caverns and the larger underground tank systems that are more industrial in nature, only the CUDO cube broke away from the common matrix block type of system. It is also competitively priced and is the only cube system on the market that makes it serviceable.
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The CUDO cube allows you to build an underground reservoir that is serviceable.
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All systems must have pre filters built into them to keep sediment from entering the units. In rain water harvesting, storm water management, gray water catchment systems or potable water storage, a concern is often “How do you clean them out if debris accumulates in them”. The larger one piece tanks and the CUDO system have access points that allow entry to the underground structures. The matrix blocks do not allow access. .
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Most of the systems use what are called matrix blocks. These blocks do not allow access once installation is complete.
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The one piece units have excellent access and are easy to clean out. However, heavy equipment such as cranes or large tractors have to be used to install them.
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One piece underground tanks have access ports built directly into them.
