Water Harvesting: Low Tech Solutions

Interestingly, many of these technologies have been around for a while:

The history of rainwater harvesting in Asia can be traced back to about the 9th or 10th Century and the small-scale collection of rainwater from roofs and simple brush dam constructions in the rural areas of South and South-east Asia. Rainwater collection from the eaves of roofs or via simple gutters into traditional jars and pots has been traced back almost 2 000 years in Thailand. Rainwater harvesting has long been used in the Loess Plateau regions of China. More recently, however, about 40,000 well storage tanks, in a variety of different forms, were constructed between 1970 and 1974 using a technology that stores rainwater and storm water runoff in ponds of various sizes. A thin layer of red clay is generally laid on the bottom of the ponds to minimize seepage losses. Trees, planted at the edges of the ponds, help to minimize evaporative losses from the ponds. (UNEP, 1982)

Low Technology Aids

Rain Barrels

Rain barrels are somewhere beyond simple in terms of solutions. The idea is to gather as much rainwater as we can for later use. If we could but capture rainwater from hard rains and have them course into a holding mechanism of some kind, then we will have captured our limited resource for free and for use when we care to employ it. Rain barrels are hooked up to the gutter system around the roof of a home or building with piping feeding directly inside, thereby transmitting the runoff rain water into some form of tank or other facility for storage. These barrels can also be arranged in series, allowing spillage into the next barrel once a certain level is reached. There can be a remarkable amount of water stored in tanks. I mean, we drink water that is stored in tanks, so why would we not want to eat the vegetables we grow by water saved in tanks?

It is possible to save thousands of gallons of water given enough rainfall and enough collection tanks. The technology for routing the water is simple an easily done. In the end, lots of people are opting for barrel harvesting owing to the expense of buying water from The City. As mentioned, the price of water will not go down any time soon. This makes water harvesting a terrific bet.

Ponds and Catchments

On a larger scale, we see farms and properties that have entire ponds and catchments areas dedicated to collecting rainwater. The wisdom of this is patently obvious. Just the same, some properties that could accomplish this don't bother doing so and that's almost too bad. Granted, there are some minor maintenance issues involved, but the overall sense of it overwhelms any argument against it. Even if we paid someone to maintain it in a small way, it might very well still be less than if we were to use the water from the municipal sources and pay that way. Water will also become far more expensive, another very, very compelling issue in water harvesting.

By erecting a pond, other things change as well. On the landscaping end, if you chose, constructing a waterfall system of water recirculating via pumps pushing water over an artistically designed waterway and 'falls that not only aerates and clears the water, but it also looks fabulous and even more so when lit up at night, for example.

Obviously these are great ways to save abundant amounts of water and to take more control over our gardens. This, in the end, is perhaps the signal event in terms of self-determination in gardening. By using our own water, we achieve a bit more independence from relying on others. Thus, we not only save money but we avoid compromising in certain areas we may have wanted compromise on.