RE: Hello medit-plants! Water conservation

And we found it very common in Australia, particularly Melbourne and Adelaide and I expect Western Australia to have personal water tanks to handle summer garden needs. Potable water is forbidden to use on landscape there.

 

Here in the Santa Clara Valley, one used to see water towers associated with each orchard house but they are pretty much gone.

 

Cheers,

Bracey

 

From: seanaohara@gmail.com [mailto:seanaohara@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Sean A. O'Hara
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2015 5:15 PM
To: Medit-Plants Plants
Subject: Re: Hello medit-plants! Water conservation

 

Hi Laura!

Yes, it mystifies me that cisterns weren't part of the building vernacular in the SF Bay Area as well!  In the Cayman Islands, where Deborah's family is from, cisterns were normal and universal.  But now-a-days, they no longer build homes that way because they desalinate water (which tastes awful, BTW!).

When we were in Europe in Sep/Oct last year, we visited friends who live outside of Barcelona (way outside!).   When they bought the house, it had neither electricity or water.  It now has the former, but the later is supplied by a refurbished old system (built before memory) that collects water from the surrounding higher grounds and funnels it into a basin.  This is their only water for the entire year, and they monitor it VERY carefully.  BTW, Pat has planted a spectacularly beautiful garden of climate appropriate plants!!


 

On Sat, Mar 14, 2015 at 12:00 AM, Laura Cooper Nick Taggart <c*@earthlink.net> wrote:

Building on top of a cistern is what the Romans did as well--side benefit: passive air conditioning.
Why haven't we all built our houses on top of cisterns!!!

If I was starting over I would do it--if Los Angeles building inspectors would let me !

Laura in LA



On Mar 13, 2015, at 9:55 PM, Don/Diane wrote:

>
> On 2015-03-13, at 1:29 PM, p*@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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