Wrapping Rainwater With A Bow

There’s not much of a system in place here yet to collect the annual average of 15 inches of rainfall that arrives fall/winter in Southern California.
This light but steady drizzle over the past couple days has already brimmed one 33-gallon trash barrel, but the other trash cans are too beat up to hold water.
All I want for Christmas is a 500-gallon cistern.

(Copper firepot/dipping basin/feline watering hole, dyckias, and furcraea.)

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The standard formula reveals what astonishing amounts of rainwater can be collected by homeowners.
An easy trick to remember is to divide the square footage of your roof by 2. That’s roughly the amount of rainwater that can be collected from one inch of rainfall.
(1 inch of rain on a 1,000 square feet (93 m2) roof yields 623 gallons of water)

(Chondropetalum tectorum’s elegant rainwater collection system)

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4 Responses to Wrapping Rainwater With A Bow

  1. Grace says:

    Maybe Santa can send one me one too. Please. šŸ™‚

  2. Denise says:

    Grace, I’m leaving a really big plate of cookies out. Maybe give that a try. (I’m dreaming. There’s no chance this year.)

  3. Hind-site has me wishing we would have put some containment device underneath our patio when we had the area all cleared out. We do still hope to capture the rainfall from the shade pavilion roof…someday when we get around to putting in the system. That area is furthest from the hose bib and the bog plants could use the extra in the summer. (btw yes, you are correct…Cistus was my exciting news!)

  4. David says:

    I’m getting another 50 gallon barrel, so I’m up to 100 plus a few odds and ends. Tell me if Santa brings you a cistern, and if you find it under the Christmas tree you MUST call the local news. David/ Tropical Texana/ Houston

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