- Rainwater is delivered to us free of charge, eliminating the need for costly distribution systems. Did you know that 20% of all energy consumed in California is used to transport, treat or store water?
- Rainwater is the highest-quality source of irrigation water.
- Rain water is salt-free and can help flush plant damaging salts from the root zone in alkaline soils.
- Rainwater is a natural fertilizer containing sulfur, beneficial microorganisms, mineral nutrients, and nitrogen.
- Rainwater harvesting helps reduce utility bills.
- Rainwater harvesting reduces flooding by reducing flow to streets and storm drains.
- Rainwater harvesting reduces nonpoint-source pollution of stormwater.
- Rainwater harvesting provides a water source when well, surface, or municipal water is contaminated or unreliable (such as after a major earthquake)
- Water harvesting helps utilities reduce summer peak demands for water and reduces the volume of wastewater that needs to be treated at water treatment plants.
- Water harvesting is fun! The food from my garden tastes better than store bought food and we have emergency water storage.
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From around 1997 to 2010 southeastern Australia experienced the worst drought in the country’s recorded history! Known in the area as the "millenium drought," Melbourne reservoir levels dropped by almost three-quarters to a historic low of 25.9 percent. At one point, the city of four million people was 500 days away from running out of water!
Through extensive water-reduction programs they were able to reduce use from 65 gallons per person per day in 2000-1 to 39 gallons in 2010-11 — enough to help save the city from running dry. Distributing free water-saving equipment, advertising on television and radio, a program for garden centers which included planting drought-tolerant native plants and using mulch on their garden, water bills that told customers how much they were using and rebates on water-efficient washing machines and rainwater tanks were all tools used to reduce water demand. Rainwater harvesting tank usage increased from 16.7 percent of households to 29.6 percent through. California is similarly facing it's worst drought in 1200 years! Californians use about 75 gallons per day. California has begun to use similar tools that were deployed in Australia during the millenium drought. Governor Jerry Brown announced the first ever statewide mandatory reduction in urban water use in April 2015 which calls on Californians to reduce their use of potable (safe for drinking and food preparation) urban water by 25% from pre-drought levels. Californians are meeting the mandate. However, more can be done in California. Australia made much larger, comprehensive investments in water conservation and efficiency involving households, businesses and local governments. If each house (just over 1,000,000 million homes as of 2013) installed a properly sized rainwater capture system, with just ONE inch of rain we could capture 1,200,000,000 gallons of water - that is 1200 gallons per household, with only ONE inch! The average house in San Diego is approximately 2,000 square feet, not to mention businesses. Visit our site for details on catching rainwater. Catching Rainwater Page Ferro means iron, and although we do not use iron in ferrocement, we do use steel, an iron alloy. The cement we use is Portland cement, a form of limestone. Cement is used to encapsulate the steel mesh in thin layers forming the walls of the tanks. This method utilizes the compressive strength of cement and tensile strength for a marriage of unequal quality. Ferrocement was first used back in the 1850s, by the great French architect Henri Labrouste, a Boulogne gardener Joseph Monier and a country gentleman named Jean-Louis Lambot. They made plaster vaults, flower pots, doors and boats. In 1876 mechanical engineer W.E. Ward built a ferrocement house in Port Chester, New York which is still in good condition! The building of our tanks is modeled off that of Martin Iorns and Lou Watson who invented and patented this building process in the 1960s called laminated ferrocement - the use of a mold to accurately reproduce super strong and long-lasting boats. And their boats are still in great condition today! We took their idea a step further to make water tanks and integrate a modular system for off-site manufacturing of the tank sections. We make pre-cast modular water tanks in 2 foot tall sections. Currently we make a 3 foot diameter water tank, but will have other sizes available in the future. The bottom section (seen in below photo) includes the 2 foot tall sidewalls and a bottom, then we can stack additional 2 foot tall sidewall sections on top of the using a male-female compression lip. This allows the sections to nest snugly against each other. Then we seal the seal with a super-strong industrial polyurethane sealant which is potable grade so it does not affect water quality.
Our laminated ferrocement building process uses approximately 80 percent less cement that conventional reinforced concrete and is far stronger and does not crack as is often seen in foundations, bridges, other cement structures. The walls of our tanks are only 3/8" thick but super strong and will hold your water for decades to come!
After a long-awaited update this Minisode shows the amazing and fast progress of the cob walls getting almost to ceiling height on one side of the cabin (south). Just a little more cob and we can begin to put in the roof beams. Future episodes will go into detail of various elements. To learn more about this project please check out our previous Minisodes in the Archives. SoCal Water$mart is currently offering a $250 dollar rebate on our water tanks!
Funding for the SoCal Water$mart program is through a partnership between the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and its 26 member agencies throughout Southern California. Their commitment to developing an affordable balance between supply and demand has made “finding” water a mission. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a state chartered cooperative of 26 member agencies—cities and public water agencies—that serve about 18 million people in six counties. Metropolitan imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and help its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage and other resource-management programs. Metropolitan draws supplies through the Colorado River Aqueduct, which it owns and operates. The rebate process is simple and fast, we are happy to help you through the process. Contact us for a free at-home consultation to see if our rainwater harvesting systems are right for you!
Ever had a problem with rodents?
I bet the answer is yes. Fortunately there is a natural and safe way to rid yourself unwanted rodents - install a Barn Owl nest box on your property! OUR NATIVE FRIEND Barn Owls are a native owl species who like to nest in the hollows of trees and, of course, barns. Unfortunately there aren't many old trees or barns around. Old dead trees with hollows have mostly been cut down for firewood or to reduce the risk of wildfires.
After years of work, and over a decade of studying birds of prey, we have developed the ultimate Barn Owl Nest Box. The box is made of cedar wood and strong screws so it will last for years and years. It is the optimal size, keeps the owls cool with small vents and we use an all natural bee repellent to be sure your owl box does not turn into a bee hive.
Barn owls nest in spring and usually have between 3 and 7 cute little owlets. Each adult Barn Owl eats about 1-2 rodents per night and a nesting family can eat over 1,000 rodents per year (1995 UC Davis Study).
BARN OWLS' FAVORITE MEAL = GOPHERS, RATS AND MICE The owls are also very small, weighing about a pound, so you don't have to worry about pets being injured.
It is absolutely critical that the nest box be placed in the proper location to attract the owls to it AND keep predators like raccoons from getting into the box and eating the owls or owlets.
Many factors go into play when an owl is looking for a home. These factors include the size and shape of the box, opening size, mounting height, mounting substrate, sun angle, box door accessibility, relative grade slope to box and many others. After studying raptor ecology for over 10 years we can ensure your nest box is placed in the best way to get owls.
Here at Permasystems we are about using natural systems to solve our problems and lead more efficient lives in balance with nature. There is no better example of this than giving a home for Barn Owls. Whether or not you get a Barn Owl nest box from us, we plead you not to EVER use ANY poisons for rodents. THEY ARE ALL NOT SAFE for wildlife, pets or people!!!
DO NOT USE POISONS - EVER Even poisons that state on the package that they are safe or do not cause secondary poisoning are construing the truth. Secondary poisoning is when an animal, like a coyote, eats a gopher you poisoned, and then get poisoned themselves. The claim that a poison does not cause secondary poisoning means that once a poison is digested by the primary animal, the gopher in our example, it is no longer poisonous to the secondary animal, the coyote. This is true, however, most of the times, when the primary animal dies, it still has undigested poison in it's stomach and therefore will poison anything that eats it! Learn more about poisoning from our friends at Raptors Are The Solution http://www.raptorsarethesolution.org/tracking-poisons/ Overview of our simple, cheap and reliable irrigation system. Our long-term goal is to not even need/use the watering system, however, in our dry climate we need to water the trees and other plants to get them established. The best watering system is the rain and soil! Proper watering techniques are important to get plants to grow deep roots so they can eventually find more ground water as well as nutrients on their own. Deep roots also keep tress from falling over. The best is to water evenly, slow and deep. We will later cover the white PVC pipe with soil and the black poly tubing with compost and mulch. Mulch and compost are very important to build healthy soil which allows the soil to hold more water, making it available to plants. Healthy soil also builds healthier plants that are more resistant to disease and less likely to fall over. Also be sure to add an in-line filter before the emitters to get out any small particles that could clog or build up in the lines or emitters. Don't forget to always take photos of your water lines while the trenches are open! Important parts used (feel free to email me about details): - Woodpecker Emitters - Woodpecker 2 GPH (green) - Woodpecker Emitters - Woodpecker Bug Cap - 1/2 in. (0.700 O.D.) x 500 ft. Poly Drip Tubing - 3/4 in. Sc40 PVC pipe This minisode goes quickly through the different tree species we planted recently that comprise the top layer of our drought-tolerant food forest. We will go through the characteristics of each species in separate blogs/minisodes as well as definitions and design considerations for food forests. In a nutshell, a food forest is a regenerative multi-level food system - from tall trees, down to ground cover, you utilize space much more efficiently. The goal is to mimic patterns found in old growth forests to minimize human input (like water and fertilizers) and work. Species I planted: - Jojoba - x2 - Jujube - Li - x3 - Apple - Gala - Coast Live Oak - Olive - Arbequina - Apple - Anna - Fig - Black mission - Macadamia nut - Kate - x2 - Chinese elm (top story tree) - x3 - Chilean mesquite (top story tree) - x4 - Pomegranate - Parfianka - Loquat - x2 - Pomegranate - Eversweet - Mulberry - Black Persian - Mulberry - White Pakistan - Monterey pine - Jujube - GA866 - Olive - Arbosana - Torrey pine - Pomegranate - Wonderful - Apple - Golden Dorsett - Goji berry - Apple - Fuji - Prickly pear cactus We have been busy and things have been wet so I have not gotten much cobbing done. Recently had some great friends spend the day helping me cob and we got a little more of the walls up! Here is the video showing our progress. Harvesting Lots Of Rainwater Is Easy - Even In Dryland Environments (Like San Diego County)!3/6/2016 The hardest part of our business is getting word out that anyone with a house can catch thousands and thousands of gallons of water every year, even with the relatively low rainfall of San Diego County. cc PlusThe average home in San Diego County is approximately 2000 square feet. The mathematical equation for rainwater harvesting is this: For every inch of rain on 1000 square feet of roof equals 600 gallons of water! That means the average house (2000 square feet of roof) in San Diego County, with our average of approximately 10 inches of rain per year, can catch 12,000 gallons of water off of their roof alone!!! There is so much potential, even in drought years, you just need to have a place to store the water - like one of our ferrocement water tanks. Then, when your plants get thirsty you have the water on hand to give them a drink! The key is to have a big enough tank, or multiple tanks, to store enough water that comes off of your roof. Take a look at the demand of your landscaping - do you have plants that need a lot of water, trees that need only a little in the summer, succulents, flowers, etc.?? Here at Permasystems we can help you understand your demand to help you better choose what size tank(s) best fits your home's needs. We offer initial in-home consultations for new customers. Plus there are $100's in rebates available so you can get your tank for cheap or even free! Learn more at the links below.
The key to remember is even YOU can catch, store and use thousands of gallons of water, saving you money, reducing demand of imported water and help the planet by using the tools in ecological design.
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