For several years, the RainWise program has given rebates to “Big Roof” property owners such as community centers, places of worship, schools, and businesses to  install green solutions to manage their stormwater and build relationships with the local community.

Young’s Restaurant became the first RainWise restaurant to participate in the RainWise program. This Vietnamese-Chinese family-owned business serving the White Center community installed three cisterns that collects the rain that falls on their roof and this keeps over 11,000 gallons of polluted runoff out of the combined sewer system each year. With their installation, Young’s Restaurant became a recipient of the Leader in Stormwater Solutions Green Globe Award.

The cisterns not only keep stormwater out of the wastewater system, but it also gives cistern owners rainwater for summer watering.

The language capacity and multicultural environmental outreach expertise of the non-profit organization, ECOSS, was critical to the success of this project.