Re: Hello medit-plants! Water conservation

On 2015-03-13, at 1:29 PM, p.k.peirce@att.net wrote:
> 
> This has been my thought too, that in a region where rain is seasonal, it would be difficult to store all the water that passes over a roof for the dry season. 

I've just uncovered my calculations for saving rain that comes off our roof.

1800 sq ft roof sheds  30,000 gallons of water annually

I checked my water bills, and in summer we use 200 cubic meters of water, 2/3 of which is for the garden.  This is about 35,000 U.S. gallons.  

So I was wrong - I could capture enough rainwater for the five rainless months.

a cistern 20' x 20' and 10 feet deep will hold it.  (I'd probably need to hire an engineer to make sure this would be safe)

However, I really don't want such a massive concrete structure in the yard.  Maybe it could be 40 x 40 and only 5 feet high so we could use it as a patio.  

I've just remembered a friend's family who lived somewhere in the Middle East.  They had the house built on top of their cistern, which was the sole source of household water.  So the proper way to be self-sufficient in water is to start right at the beginning, during house construction.

Diane Whitehead
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
68 cm rain  (27 in)
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