Rainwater Collection


© Max Dalrymple
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I mentioned last time there are 1500 square feet in the average Albuquerque house. Because of eves you'll have more area if you cover your house with a sloped roof. The southwestern roof is flat, however, and it is about the same size as the floor beneath it. 1500 square feet is probably a good estimate for the size of the average southwestern style roof.

We talked last week of accepting as a goal a much stronger standard than that of the City of Albuquerque's Xeriscape(TM) program. Specifically, instead of limiting only the six high water use ground covers or grasses the City limits, I am planning on limiting all of my high water use plants to about 20% of the total landscaped area. In the beginning that "high water plants" area equals about 570 square feet, although I am also planning on two pecans which will eventually grow large enough to shade the western and eastern sides of my house.

The pecan is a large tree and it will eventually take up much more water than the other high water use plants in my plan. To begin with, though, the pecans won't be much bigger than the other trees and will probably require a similar amount of water, perhaps about 10 gallons of water every 7 to 10 days that they're in leaf the first year. I'm going to plan for small pecan trees, with the knowledge that I'll have greater water needs and less water coming from my roof in a decade or so because of those pecans, which will be larger and which will be covering parts of the roof.

Total precipitation in this area is about 14" a year, with half of that falling in our summer monsoon months of July and August. According to the wet-climate rain collection web site you'll find here, one inch of water falling on 1 square foot surface similar to that of the southwestern roof produces .62 gallons. That's about 930 gallons of water a year from my roof, with nearly half that, or 465 gallons of water, falling in July and August.

Three Methods of Rainwater Conservation

There are at least three ways that rainwater can be conserved. One of them is to use a lot of compost and other organic matter around the trees and other high water use plants, then to drain the roof water directly into the compost. Organic matter absorbs moisture and holds the water in the soil for the plants to use when they need it.

     

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Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages

13.   Feb 23, 2000 10:51 AM
I guess I should fess up, since diaries have been mentioned. I was going to detail what went wrong with the pinons in another article - and focus on the successes - and I still plan to. The pinon pi ...

-- posted by max_read


12.   Feb 23, 2000 7:55 AM
I don't know how I missed all of the new additions to this discussion. I certainly agree about the septic tanks, and what a wonderful suggestion about the milk tanks. If diaries are read as often as ...

-- posted by max_read


11.   Feb 21, 2000 10:48 AM
I'm also in PA, Suza, and had planted a few new trees before the drought struck. I used empty milk jugs that had small holes punched into the bottom with a thumb tack, filled them with water and set t ...

-- posted by CarolWallace


10.   Feb 21, 2000 10:24 AM
One thing that has always irked me are the govt. regulations that insist we combine gray water with waste water. The alkali in our soapy waters reduce the efficiency of bacteria in our septic systems. ...

-- posted by bindweed


9.   Jan 24, 2000 4:54 PM
A diary huh? I'm always reluctant to crack open a brand new diary and start writing in it. I don't have that problem with new gardens though. Diaries are definately easier to leave, pristine, and on t ...

-- posted by Jojo





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