Saving Water for the Garden

Saving Water for the Garden
I remember years ago, when I was running Redefining Progress in the City, a rep from Tree People in LA came calling. Sounds very crunchy, I know, but he made a key point that I've remembered ever since: We in California get gobs of rain in one season and none the rest of the year. What if we could store that rain conveniently, and use it through the year for outdoor needs?

The New York Times has caught up with the topic. In July it published a story covering this exact issue. The piece outlines how to go about collecting water efficiently, and makes the point that while you won't save much money (water is still one of those resources that's almost ''too cheap to meter''), you'll avoid using precious drinking water for irrigation, and you'll divert storm runoff from the regional sewage treatment system (too much of our storm water still comingles with sewage!).

This Old House had an article a while ago (click through the photos for some good info) and just last month on water collection systems.