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Zhoushan Village’s “Circulating Rainwater” project combines runoff capture, filtration, storage, gravity-fed flow, and gray-water reuse in a community-built landscape. The 2024 ASLA Student Community Service Honor Award project shows how rural water infrastructure can also create a public demonstration site—but its published figures describe the project’s own assessment, not independently audited or monitored performance.
What is the Circulating Rainwater project?
Circulating Rainwater is a landscape and water-management project at the “House of Dreams” in Zhoushan Village, Dengfeng City, Henan Province, China. The site is known for cave architecture. The project was recognized with a Student Community Service Honor Award in the American Society of Landscape Architects’ 2024 Student Awards; Beijing Jiaotong University is listed as the school.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →The project responds to two linked problems identified by its designers: water shortages and soil erosion. Rather than treat water infrastructure as a stand-alone tank or pipe network, the proposal makes runoff collection and reuse part of the landscape. Ponds, a reservoir, buried connections, permeable surfaces, retained vegetation, and community participation all contribute to that system. The ASLA project page describes it as “a multi-party participation in landscape creation in rural areas with water problems.”
That framing matters for construction. The project is not simply a model of how much water a tank can hold. It brings together site drainage, water storage, low-carbon material choices, local labor, and a process for villagers and other participants to exchange knowledge. The design was intended both to address a local need and to demonstrate a practical approach that could inform other rural projects.
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How does the village rainwater system work?
The design uses the site’s natural low points and elevation changes to collect and move water. Its described sequence starts with observing storm runoff, routes water through a primary filtration pond, and connects collection ponds and a reservoir with buried pipes. Gravity provides pressure through the filtration system; wastewater follows a separate path to an underground gray-water tank, from which it is pumped back for recycling when the tank is full.
- Identify where runoff gathers. The project team conducted on-site storm tests to identify the lowest points along the roads. This is a site-specific way to understand where water actually travels, rather than relying only on a generalized drainage assumption.
- Collect runoff at the primary filtration pond. A primary filtration pond on the south side receives runoff. The project narrative describes it as part of the water-treatment path, but does not provide filter media, treatment specifications, or water-quality results.
- Use the terrain to locate storage. The reservoir is placed in a natural terrain depression. A separate rainwater collection pond occupies an open area. Together, these landscape elements collect and hold water rather than requiring the site to be reshaped around a single storage structure.
- Connect the components underground. Buried pipes link the ponds and reservoir. Their placement is part of the designed system, but the published project description does not give pipe diameters, gradients, materials, or flow rates.
- Let elevation differences move rainwater. Differences in elevation create gravity water pressure that allows water to pass through the filtration system. Gravity can reduce the need to pump water along this part of the route, but the project description does not establish that every stage operates without pumps.
- Recycle wastewater through a separate tank. Wastewater flows to an underground gray-water tank. When the tank is full, water is pumped back for recycling. The specified pumping step is an important distinction: gravity is part of the rainwater circulation strategy, not a claim that the whole water system is pump-free.
The project’s account is a design narrative, not a construction specification. A builder or site owner cannot use it alone to size a filtration pond, choose a pump, verify water safety, or design a code-compliant system. Those decisions require site measurements and technical information that the award page does not supply.
What do the project’s water and carbon figures show?
The ASLA project page reports a 364.47 m² rainwater collection area and a 24 m³ reservoir. The figures describe a project designed to serve six permanent winter residents and 20 temporary summer residents. They give a sense of the scale of the installation, but they do not establish how much usable water it produces over a year or whether supply meets demand in dry periods.
| Project figure | What the project page reports | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Average spring rainfall | 92.811 mm | Reported by the project for the site context; not a forecast of captured water. |
| Average summer rainfall | 528.297 mm | Reported by the project; seasonal rainfall alone does not equal collection yield. |
| Rainwater collection area | 364.47 m² | The stated collection area, not necessarily the entire site area. |
| Reservoir capacity | 24 m³ | Storage capacity, not annual water production or a guarantee of supply. |
| People served | 6 permanent winter residents; 20 temporary summer residents | The project’s reported service population for different seasonal conditions. |
| Carbon-emission intensity | 35.45 kg CO₂-eq/m² | The project’s assessment figure; the page does not provide an independent audit. |
| 25-year emissions | 31,334.6 kg CO₂-eq | The project’s total-emissions figure over a 25-year period. |
| Comparison cited by the project | Nearly 500 kg CO₂-eq/m² lower intensity | Compared with the typical water-storage and green-water-circulation facilities cited in the project. |
The project reports average rainfall of 92.811 mm in spring and 528.297 mm in summer, and argues that better rainwater use can turn alternating drought and flooding pressures into a usable resource. But rainfall totals cannot be converted directly into captured water from the information published. A yield calculation would also need the effective catchment area, runoff losses, system efficiency, storage behavior, and a clear time period for the rainfall figures.
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The carbon figures should be read with similar care. The reported intensity is 35.45 kg CO₂-eq/m², and the reported total is 31,334.6 kg CO₂-eq over 25 years. The project says its intensity is nearly 500 kg CO₂-eq/m² lower than that of the typical water-storage and green-water-circulation facilities it cites. The ASLA page presents these as the project’s assessment figures; it does not provide an independent audit, detailed bill of materials, or a full comparative methodology. They are therefore useful as reported design estimates, not verified post-construction results.
How are landscape design and construction choices connected?
The design principles are environmental, economic, and social sustainability. On the environmental side, the project retains existing vegetation, uses local and renewable materials, and includes permeable paving. These choices connect the water system to the surrounding landscape and are intended to protect the ecosystem. The project also identifies local and recycled materials as ways to reduce costs and carbon burden.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchPermeable paving is relevant because it allows water to pass through the paved surface rather than treating every paved area as an impermeable barrier. In this project, it forms one part of a broader strategy that also includes locating collection points using observed runoff, placing storage in a terrain depression, and routing water between landscape elements. The source does not quantify how much runoff the paving absorbs or how it is maintained, so it should not be treated as a measured performance result.
For construction planning, local materials and labor can reduce transport needs and keep more of the work connected to the community, while recycled materials can support the low-carbon intent. These are project principles, not a published material schedule: the ASLA page does not identify product specifications, quantities, suppliers, or a cost breakdown. Any comparable project would still need to assess durability, availability, installation requirements, and maintenance locally.
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The reservoir is a landscape-scale component, not just a household rain barrel. A consumer-scale rainwater collection tank or household rainwater storage tank can illustrate the basic idea of capturing water for later use, but it is not an equivalent substitute for this project’s 24 m³ reservoir, filtration ponds, buried pipe connections, and site-wide circulation design.
Who took part, and what did participation contribute?
NGOs coordinated the collaboration, while the design team, suppliers, villagers, and other participants exchanged technical and cultural knowledge. The project credits the Chan Cheung Mun Chung Charitable Fund with sponsorship, strategic support, and resource linkage. It also identifies elderly local workers as beneficiaries of economic opportunities.
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This is more than a list of stakeholders. The project’s stated approach treats cooperation as part of how the landscape is made: technical decisions meet local knowledge, and construction can create work as well as infrastructure. The intended social outcomes include improving villagers’ skills and environmental awareness, strengthening belonging and cohesion, supporting rural economic development, and advancing rural revitalization. These are stated goals and intended benefits, not independently measured social-impact results in the project description.
After construction, the eroded forest area became a rainwater-circulation demonstration site, according to ASLA. Villagers inspected the site and participated in evaluation meetings; their feedback was intended to help shape a more practical construction model for wider dissemination. That feedback loop is a useful part of the case: a landscape system can be evaluated not only as a built object but also through whether local people can understand, inspect, and inform its ongoing use.
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The award page lists a student team from Beijing Jiaotong University and faculty advisors. It also names a plant palette that includes plum tree, poplar tree, spotted grass, Coptis chinensis, iris, wood sorrel, yellow iris, scallion, Ligustrum vicaryi, Calendula officinalis, and calamus. The listed plants show that the project integrates planting with water infrastructure, although the source does not specify planting locations, quantities, establishment outcomes, or maintenance needs.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What can other rural construction projects learn from it?
The project offers a useful design logic, but not a ready-made template. Its most transferable lesson is to coordinate hydrology, landform, materials, and community work from the beginning rather than adding a storage tank after a drainage problem appears.
- Start with observed water movement. The storm tests and road low-point survey ground the concept in actual runoff behavior. A different village would need its own site observations and drainage assessment.
- Use the terrain where it helps. Locating a reservoir in a natural depression and using elevation differences for flow can reduce unnecessary earthwork or pumping needs, but feasibility depends on the actual elevations and system requirements.
- Plan the full water path. Collection, filtration, storage, distribution, and wastewater reuse are linked but distinct functions. The project illustrates those links without publishing enough detail to specify a complete system for another site.
- Include operations and maintenance in the collaboration. The published account emphasizes cooperative construction and post-construction evaluation, but does not provide maintenance logs or assign long-term maintenance duties. A new project should make those responsibilities explicit before construction.
- Be precise about evidence. Distinguish a design target or assessment from monitored operation. For this project, the available source supplies reported rainfall, capacity, population, and carbon assessment figures, but not audited utility bills, independent carbon verification, or a post-occupancy monitoring series.
Those distinctions are important when comparing rural water landscapes. Relevant questions include how much water can be captured and stored, how it is filtered and reused, which parts depend on gravity or pumps, what materials and transport contribute to carbon, who is responsible for upkeep, how local labor and residents are involved, and whether reported outcomes are design estimates or measured after operation. Circulating Rainwater makes those dimensions visible, while the public project description leaves some of them unanswered.
ASLA’s 2024 project page is the primary published source for the award, design narrative, participant credits, plant list, and reported figures discussed here.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is the collected water safe to drink?
The project description does not say that the water is potable or provide water-quality testing results. Rainwater collected for landscape or other non-potable uses should not be assumed safe for drinking without appropriate treatment and testing for the intended use.
Does the 24 m³ reservoir mean the village has a year-round water supply?
No. The stated capacity describes how much the reservoir can hold, not how often it fills or how long stored water lasts. The public account does not provide seasonal operating records or a supply-demand analysis.
Who is responsible for maintaining the ponds, pipes, and gray-water tank?
The project page describes cooperation and villager involvement in evaluation, but does not name a long-term maintenance operator or publish maintenance logs. That responsibility would need to be clearly assigned in any project using a similar approach.
Can this system be copied to another village?
Its principles—mapping runoff, working with terrain, linking capture and storage, and involving residents—can inform another project. The specific pond locations, reservoir size, pipe layout, and pumping needs cannot be transferred without local surveys and engineering design.
