garden news-we need to save rainwater

GARDEN NEWS-MANY OF US NEED TO SAVE RAINWATER

its is getting dry across the southwest and western states
the cities around here are starting to limit water use
next year the restrictions that are put on the colorado river collection lakes are going to be even more restricted

it will cause many farmers to go under
there will be potentially even more restrictions coming soon
water may become the new oil in the west and southwest

this is mr b a friend a patient a son of a friend who was interested in rainwater collection
so
i had this rainwater tank hat i had made from a 60 gallon plastic barrel given to me by a patient who worked for a local water company who got these tanks full of a liquid used to put in the water to help make it clean 
i took it and painted it this light brown color to keep light from getting to the water from the almost clear plastic
then i added a screen on the top to run in water from a gutter to to collect the water off his house

for him probably less than an inch rain would fill it up
at 30+ inches of rain a year in the austin area that would give him about 1800 gallons he could use on his property 


at the country n we went rainwater harvesting on a big scale
these tanks are 3000 gallons a piece
i had 6 of them
plus
i had 3 1500 gallon tanks
plus 
i had 4 1200 gallon tanks
plus
i had 5 300 gallon tanks
plus
i had 2 60 gallon tanks

i collected off my house my barn my bbq area my garage my well house
it was about 4800 sq ft+ of collection surface
a one inch rain would give me about 2400 gallons of water
at 30+ inches of a rain a year that would be 72000 gallons a year

we used it for our water system


yes i occasionally would use the tops of the tanks to plank on


this was a 1500 gallon tank we donated and set up for the school garden where my wife she taught
they attached a water hose to the tank to water their numerous garden beds

now here in the santa barbara area there is even less water that falls from the sky
the average is around 13 inches
however last year we got about half of that

the soil gets real dry here
especially in our community garden in the areas we dont water

for some reason you dont see many rainwater tanks around here


in our community garden we have two chicken coops
i added gutters on them and found these two 60 gallon tanks online
a one inch rain will allow us to save about 60 gallons
in an average year we could collect about 750 gallons
we also get a lot of fog that leaves a few extra gallons during the foggy season

the water is used mainly to water new plantings in the garden and the greenhouse
i use it to mix up my fish emulsion thats used to fertilize the veggies

so thats 750 gallons that would have gone into the ocean

i ran the overflow line to my garden so if it overflows it waters my garden


these are 3 rainwater tanks i put in at the school where i volunteered at before the pandemic
i added one more later
so they fill up with a 1 inch rain
so in a years time they could collect around 3000 gallons to use

what if folks all over town would do this 
thats a lot of water that could be saved

from my perspective as a gardener there is no better water to give your plants than to use rainwater
im sure if you are a gardener youve seen how a garden will just explode in growth after a good rain
theres no chemicals in it
some say there is more ozone in the water after a rain storm
the ph is about right for the plants as its slightly acid

its a small part you can do to help those of us who live in these water restriction areas

heck 
some folks just put a row of 5 gallon buckets under their roof lines to collect the water
if your house is 20 ft wide the 5 gallon bucket will fill up with a 1 inch rain

i know folks who put a trash can under the eaves and collect the rainwater
that same house above with a 30 gallon can could collect around 15 gallons from a 1 inch rain
they just dip their watering cans into the trash gun

two of my 300 gallon barrels were connected to a drip line to all my native plants 
it would drain by gravity and would take days to empty out
that was the only water those plants got besides our usual rains

so
do your part
please your plants
save that rainwater

we did
we loved it
for drinking showering washing clothes washing dishes gardening washing our cars washing our dogs and more 

try it
do your part

the organicgreen doctor