Following up on my Let it Rain conference report, Stream of Dreams Murals Society Artistic Director Louise emailed saying "I like rainwater management over stormwater... so shall we change stormdrain to raindrain?" ;-)
I think that's a great idea!
It makes a much more direct connection in people's minds to say "raindrain" -- it's one less cognitive step they have to process (backwards up the cause-effect ladder) to make the connection that most rainwater that hits impermeable surfaces such as roads, roofs and parking lots, goes down stormdrains, er, raindrains.
Instead of the idea that these systems are only for storms, people would more clearly see that they are for all rain.
And imagine if we called them "rain pipes" rather than "stormwater pipes" or "storm sewers" as a lot of people at the conference called them.
Stormwater > Rainwater
Storm drain > Rain drain
Storm sewer > Rain pipe
Etc.
It all sounds less negative, cleaner, and perhaps would hit home harder when people think about pouring something down a "rain drain" rather than a "storm drain." Semantics, I know, but words are powerful.
Paradigm shift, here we come!
Posted by Paul at March 20, 2005 04:34 PM