Harvesting Rain: Introduction

According to LA Stormwater (1), as much as 10 billion gallons of water run from dry/impermeable surfaces in Los Angeles County in a single rainstorm.  That’s a whole lot of wasted water!  And some of it is good free water you could have used to water your own garden.  With global climate change, rising water prices and increasing water scarcity it’s time we all took harvesting rain seriously.   The need is particularly critical for those of us who live in drier climates.

In the next few months we’ll consider some practical steps you can take to insure that the water that falls on your property stays on your property.  Later this month (January 2013) we’ll discuss the role of gutters, downspouts and rain chains in collecting water from your roof.  In March, we’ll discuss rain gardens and vegetated swales, a great technique for infiltrating rainwater in home gardens.  We’ll consider another good method to infiltrate rain water – french drains – in an April posting.

Some gardeners like the idea of collecting/storing rainwater for use later in the season.  We’ll discuss rain barrels and other storage options in May.  And we’ll finish the series in June, with a consideration of permeable pavement.  We hope you’ll want to follow this series and recommend it to your gardening friends.