Re: Hello medit-plants! Water conservation

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Hello all!

In the mountains North of Madrid, Spain, where I garden (although I am temporarily in Virginia, USA), some houses used to have large outdoor cisterns the size of swimming pools for water storage. In-basement installations also existed. Even though we can get up to 1,000 mm (40 inches) of rain per year, our summers are typically Mediterranean. Following the construction of many reservoirs during the 1960's and 1970's, most of those water-collecting structures are now gone, unfortunately. Also, the newer urban and suburban properties, much smaller, don't allow for this larger installations, and collecting enough water for at least three months is certainly problematic. As others have mentioned before, an appropriate choice of plants is the best solution, but in a climate like ours, with two distinct dormant seasons (winter and summer), that is not that easy either, and most of us give in and water (some) in the summer. But I know the day is coming when watering gardens with city water will be something from the past. We will have to get creative then!

Cheers,

Fran

El 14-03-2015 20:14, Sean A. O'Hara escribió:

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!!

Seán O.
http://about.me/seanaohara

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)