This is also not a new idea!

In the arid Southwest its tough to get a garden to grow!

Or we pay large amounts to the water company so that we can keep our gardens wet and growing.  Once it gets really warm you need to really keep your plot regularly watered or everything wilts on the vine!  In my town, water rates increase exponentially once you use over a certain amount of water.  One way that you can keep your monthly water bills down and provide a good source of natural water (high in nitrogen!) to your veggy garden is to capture it in storage containers from your roof drain pipes.  Many people today are realizing the benefits from capturing and re-using rainwater.

The United States harvests rainwater from roof catchments like many other countries.

Unfortunately the magnitude is not always as great as other countries.  We tend to be completely spoiled in our ability to turn on the tap and shazaam we have water!  Wouldn’t it be great if we were a little more protective of this resource and used rainwater harvesting?

In 2005 the Texas Water Development Board produced an 88 page water harvesting manual with everything you ever wanted to know about harvesting this precious resource. See the following link to this report.

Click to access rainwaterharvestingmanual_3rdedition.pdf

Remember “Don’t forget the leaf guard!”

The issue is that of all the water on the earth there is only 2.5% that is fresh

But only around 1% is actually available for use at any given time.

With populations ever increasing in the world this resource will undoubtedly be fought over.  Like the saying goes “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over!”.  So we must pay attention at how we use what we have.

There are hundreds of companies out there that sell garden or home cisterns.  Prices can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars.  Help your garden out and keep it wet with natural rain water!

http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/freshwater_supply/freshwater.html

You don’t really need an 88 Page Handbook to do it!

There is a local contractor in Payson that says he can install a system for as low as $200-250 for you.  It’s undoubtedly a little cheaper to do it yourself but at that cost why bother.  Mike Voden will site, deliver and install a 275 gallon tank for you.  It’s simple, easy and efficient.  Use this water to supplement your garden!  Remember this type of untreated roof water is for gardening not drinking.

Connect Drainage Pipe to your Gutters….

And run it into Storage for later use!

What can be easier than that?

You don’t have to worry about fancy expensive systems if you don’t want to. You can find tanks usually at most gardening or hardware stores.  Once you have a tank, all you need are a few lengths of PVC drainage pipe and you can do it yourself.  With a little bit of ingenuity you can start collecting water in as little as a day!  Of course that’s only if it rains….