Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church

Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church (PRLC) is located in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle. PRLC is an urban, progressive community of faith with a strong history and continued commitment to worship, music, social justice, and service to the neighborhood and community.

Their RainWise project

• manages rainwater runoff from over 11,000 combined square feet of flat roof area,
• slows nearly 66,100 gallons from entering the storm system each year,
• protects Puget Sound from combined sewer system overflows, and
• serves as an example to other faith communities to become RainWise.

Project completion was in 2019, with a combined rebate total of $43,000 covered by the RainWise rebate program.

Completed in February 2019, this massive project took RainWise contractor Rain Dog Designs just a few months for construction. The installation comprises of 12 cisterns that can hold 7,220 gallons of water at a time, along with 130 square foot rain garden. In total, this installation manages an estimated 61,000 gallonsof storm water before it enters the storm sewer each year.

Back in 2016, Rain Dog Designs met with Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church to initiate a conversation about how they could become RainWise.The project was postponed until Summer 2018, but with the help of PRLC staff, including a landscape architect, Rain Dog began planning in Summer 2018. The church was a part of the project from start to finish – even painting the piping to be used in the cistern installation. Dedication to the project eventually paid off and now RainWise has another wonderful partnership created by the Big Roof program.

The project partners include church leadership, King County staff, RainWise outreach staff and the creative design talents of the RainWise contractor, Rain Dog Designs.