Rain Water Harvesting

It is hot and dry in the American South West
 so it must be a good time to talk about rain water harvesting.



 Above is a nice looking set up at the Tucson Botanical Gardens,
 which I profiled on April 22nd. Click hear to see that.

For the rest of the post I will feature our friends Susie and Ray

 in Albuquerque and their rain water harvesting set up. I have profiled them
 on March 7th for their winter garden,
April 2nd for worm composting,
and April 17th for their cold frame

I believe these tanks are 100 gallons which they found used.

The top is well covered and screened.

I like this over flow technique which allows you to pipe

 the overflow to where you want it. Often times that is to trees 

which like the occasional deep soaking.

It is important to plan where your overflow will go 

and how to best achieve that.

This is a similar tank and shows an important point.
Keep tour tank as far away from the house as you can
 so that any leaking or overflow will not compromise

 your foundation or saturate the soil next to the house.

The top on this one is a bit different

but works well to direct the water into the tank.
 The screen keeps out debris from the roof, small animals, and bugs.

Being a used tank there is an extra valve.
 The ball valve on the bottom is much easier to use
but harder to repair for leaks.
The white plug can be removed for occasional cleaning.
 The beauty of rain water is that plants thrive with it
 compared to our city water full of chlorine, or alkaline well water.

I decided to throw in this photo of our old house in Santa Fe
 to show gutters going everywhere.
I thought they looked great and took them to be a status symbol.
 Not everyone will agree.
 For more on this topic the guru of rainwater harvesting
 is Brad Lancaster in Tucson, Arizona.
 Click on his name for his web site and blog and much more.