CARLI BERRY
news@pqbnews.com
Eat Fresh Urban Market has come up with a clever way to save water. Since their renovations last year, the market has added a water-collection tank that is buried underground, said Clayton Baker, owner of Urban Market.
Baker said the tank has only been empty once this year.
"We were out for, I'm guessing, a week and a half (this summer), when we finally got that rain and it filled right back up again."
Baker said normally the roofs of the buildings are funneled into storm drains, but with his rooftops, the rain water is collected into a tank underground, where it is used to water the plants on the property and wash the sidewalks, when water restrictions are not in effect.
He said when the tank is full, water is then placed into storm drains, but the tank holds approximately 4,000 gallons.
Since Baker has been hand watering his plants, following the water restrictions, he said there is still water available in the tank.
"So we're still making water go further."
However the water will not be used on produce. "It's purely for the gardens... any non-food related stuff," he said.
Baker said that since he was already performing renovations on the building last summer, he thought that placing in a tank would be common sense.
"It was pretty easy, I was (renovating) it to funnel all into one spot."
He said when the tank is empty the store uses the city's water supply, but they've only been on city water for watering once. "We have 7,500 square feet of roof — it fills up that tank pretty fast."
Saving water isn't the only thing Urban Market is doing for the community. Baker said he makes an effort to buy as much local produce as possible.
"I pulled a report off our computer in our produce department about a week and a half ago and out of the top 10 items, 8 were local. People love local," he said.
He said the corn and garlic that Urban Market sells comes from Errington.
Baker also said that he goes to the slaughterhouses to ensure the animals are being treated fairly.
"People want to know where their food's coming from," he said.