Ecological Design Blog

Rainwater harvesting Is Legal - Everywhere

4/30/2017

Rainwater harvesting is legal. Copyright Permasystems

Unfortunately, rainwater harvesting has received some bad press lately convincing a significant amount of Americans that rainwater harvesting is illegal and the government will come after you for engaging in this practice. THIS IS NOT TRUE! Lets take a look at the actual laws.

First off, the unfortunate story that received national attention and created this problem was about a man in Oregon who built dams on his property, creating three artificial lakes, complete with boat docks and fish. His case was described as one that was far in excess of an individual’s simple collection of rainwater. However, the article titles made it sound like the average person could go to jail for catching a little rainwater. This man never went to jail but repeatedly did not follow orders to drain his lakes.

Rainwater harvesting is legal is every state.

Some states significantly limit the amount of rainwater you can collect. All states have laws to regulate the building of lakes. But every single state lets you collect rainwater from your own roof. Here in San Diego County you don't need a permit for rainwater harvesting tanks - even pretty big ones - as long as you follow some commonsense regulations in how you hook the tank up. The County even has multiple rebates for people who install tanks, up to $450!

David Tarsi's blog documents the rainwater harvesting regulations of every state. His research has found there is currently no state government law in the U.S. that considers rainwater harvesting by individuals (home owners) in a direct manor and bluntly, “against the law” for anyone and everyone.

Please don't let deceptive articles sway you from rainwater harvesting - it's not only legal, but it's easy, can save you money on your water bill and help build a regenerative future!

In part of India the drought is so bad that they actually fine people if they DON'T have rainwater harvesting systems!

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How To Measure Rainfall - Sometimes Not As Easy As You Think

4/16/2017

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Measuring rainfall with rain gauge. Copyright Permasystems

How much does it rain where you live? Do you know? Does it matter?

It is easy to guess how much it rains, maybe you look at a bucket or puddle but to really know you must use some kind of proper gauge, like the one above.

It is important to measure rainfall to calculate your supply when trying grow plants, manage stormwater or prepare for years of flood or drought. After all, if you don't know how much you're getting, how can you prepare for the future?

The easiest way is to buy a gauge. The AcuRite 00850A2 5-Inch Capacity Easy-Read Magnifying Rain Gauge is less than $4 on Amazon (click item for link). Then, take the gauge and place it (often mounted to a wooden post) at a level that is easy to read. Be sure the gauge is not near any buildings or trees because wind can push the rain to fall at an angle and be blocked by an object which might give you a bad reading on your new gauge. I like to put out two gauges in different places and compare them - but I realize that is pretty nerdy!

Once you get some rain and check the gauge it is best to write it down so you don't forget! Then, you can use the data to figure out your annual rainfall. Just add up all the numbers. But wait - what month do you start and end with to find out how much you got for the year???

Professionals that measure rainfall sometimes argue about this. Two years ago, after using the so-called rain year - July to June - for more than 130 years to measure precipitation totals, National Weather Service stations in Southern California started using the "hydrological year" - October to September. Why does it matter?

In order calculate an accurate and comparable average, the beginning and end of the "year" that is used should be outside of the rainy season or after a normal break in a rain season. For example, the calendar year begins and ends right in winter, when a lot of places get a significant portion of their precipitation - this makes it often a bad time to start record keeping.

It can be tough because different places in the country have breaks in the rain at different times so it's hard to have just one type of "rain" year to easily be comparable. Luckily this problem is pretty easy to fix - every weather service station nationwide produces two rainfall totals: one based on the calendar year and a second based on local preferences. The big question is when should your local area make it's rain "year"?

Looking at the above graph in Ramona, CA (eastern San Diego County) where we have our permaculture education and demonstration site, you can see the rainy season comes to an end in June. That means either the rain year - July to June or the "hydrological" year - September to October - would be appropriate to use, the former being the most accurate.

So far, this "year" in Ramona we have received higher than average rainfall, like much of California has. A nice change from some recent lower than average years. As we go from extreme years of drought to extreme years in flooding, knowing how much rain we get allows us to properly prepare our rainwater harvesting systems, whether they be active or passive systems, for the future. This reduces the chance of problems or system failures allowing maintenance to be minimal and us to sit back and relax whether the weather is bone dry or soaking wet. Remember to design with the future in mind!

Resources:
U.S. Climate Data - http://www.usclimatedata.com/ - rainfall totals and graphs by city.

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Passive and Active Rainwater Harvesting - What's The Difference

4/9/2017

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Here in a dryland environment (San Diego County), rainwater harvesting is critical in weaning ourselves off of foreign water and creating a sustainable and local water supply. What a lot of people don't realize is even in a place that doesn't get a lot of rain, like coastal San Diego County - approximate average of 10 inches of rain per year - you can still catch a HUGE amount of water! For example, the average home in San Diego County has a 2000 square foot roof. With JUST one inch of rain this size roof would catch 1200 gallons of water - this is active rainwater harvesting. This pales in comparison to the amount of rainwater that can be caught in healthy soil - passive rainwater harvesting. Lets explore these two types of systems, active and passive.

Pond Rainwater Harvesting. Copyright Permasystems

Passive rainwater harvesting at our education and demonstration site

Passive rainwater harvesting freely works without the need of a person, switch or valve. The more passive a system, the less energy it needs. Earthworks, simple structures and strategies that change the topography and surface of the soil, are a great example of this system. They can speed the infiltration of water, augment soil moisture and nutrient availability and provide large quantities of high quality rainwater to gardens and landscapes. Water can be collected in huge amounts from roofs, streets, vegetation, bare dirt or greywater drains. This water is only available for limited periods after rainfall depending on soil type, mulch, climate and plant uptake but it can recharge groundwater.

Something as simple as applying a layer of mulch around your plants can reduce water usage by 25%, creating a passive system.

Painted Rainwater Harvesting Tank. Copyright Permasystems

Active rainwater harvesting system - one of our ferrocement tanks

Active rainwater harvesting requires a person, switch or valve to actively turn it on/open or off/closed. The more active a system, the more energy it requires. The best example of this are storage tanks or cisterns that collect rainwater from roofs. This allows you to store the water for when you need it, like summer, to be used to water plants or anything else. The downside is these systems tend to cost more than earthworks and limit your storage capacity to the size of the tank.

So which is better? Lets look to nature for the answer since natural systems are the most efficient as they don't need external inputs. For this reason passive rainwater harvesting systems are the best! You only need to build them once, and if done properly, you will never need to maintain them or add anything to them - like healthy soil in your yard. However, active rainwater harvesting systems are still a critical tool for creating water independence. For example, here is San Diego County we can use rainwater harvesting tanks, an active system, to significantly reduce our need to import water from distant places (Click for our past blog on where San Diego's water comes from).

The best is to use both active and passive systems. What's important is to build and install them properly to ensure they work efficiently, creating a sustainable and even regenerative future for us all!

Resources
Brad Lancaster's rainwater harvesting website - full of useful information. His books on rainwater harvesting are the best out there!
https://www.harvestingrainwater.com/

Build healthy soil - a passive system

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Rainwater harvesting Is Legal - Everywhere

How To Measure Rainfall - Sometimes Not As Easy As You Think

Passive and Active Rainwater Harvesting - What's The Difference

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