Rain Water Harvesting-Part 1

I have lived in the Sonoran Desert for 30+ years and have never given water conservation any thought. Ironically, I owe my awareness of water as a precious commodity to my godparents who live in the northeast, not the desert southwest. On a recent visit, I was surprised to hear that they are afraid their well will run dry. They live in an area of the country that I consider "wet". Water flows under their bridges and rain falls frequently. How could it be that water is so scarce in an environment like that? And if it is scarce there, why are we using it so freely in the desert where it is even more scarce?

During my visit I learned that they harvest rainwater in barrels and it made me think about trying it at home. I have gotten very serious about it since starting my little garden. So until my husband and I get the gutters on the house, I am using 8 five gallon buckets from Home Depot to collect rain water.  I simply place them under a drip from the roof and watch them fill up.

The results? I had 40 gallons of water in less than an hour during a light steady rain. It blew me away that it was that easy to do and we could collect so much so quickly! I have used this water on all of my plants in the yard and garden for the past 3 weeks and I still have 20 gallons left.

In Part 2 of Rain Water Harvesting, I will show the new gutters and the rain barrels that we are going to install. There are many choices when it comes to rain barrels. There are giant cisterns and smaller rain barrels that are easier to move around. I have read that during a good storm I can collect up to 600 gallons from my roof. My tiny yard can't handle a water barrel that big, but I could harvest a couple hundred gallons comfortably. I expect that we will have a good harvest of water this monsoon season!