Rain, Rain, Go Away?
or
Rain, Rain, Go Away? How about you come and stay?
Okay, we don’t really want the rain to come and stay, and stay, and stay . . . But wouldn’t it be nice to have access to that rainwater when the rain does go away? And the sun comes out and dries up all the rain? (my apologies to the nursery rhymes).
Have you thought about where the rain goes that runs off your roof and down the driveway? Or that seeps (or runs) into your basement? Wouldn’t it be nice to have that rain water available when it is pouring?
How about planting a rain garden? Creating Rain Gardens: Capturing the Rain for Your Own Water-Efficient Garden can help you do just that! Conservation experts, Cleo Woelfie-Erskine and Apryl Uncapher provide step-by step instructions for planning and building your own rain garden! Why let one of our most precious resources slip down our storm drains? The authors also talk about rain barrels, simple living roofs, permeable patios, and planters that help harvest run-off! There are even ideas about planting an edible rain garden!
Projects to Get You Off the Grid: Rain Barrels, Chicken Coops, and Solar Panels is another resource that is full of full-color photographs and instructions on how to collect run-off in rain barrels (among other ways to help you get off the grid!
Looking for ways to help provide urban water supplies? In Rainwater Tank Systems for Urban Water Supply the editors discuss how rain water tank systems have been adapted for use around the world. They can provide a safe local source of water in underdeveloped rural areas, a substitution for mains water for non potable end uses in water stressed urban areas, as well as providing flooding control.
Water is a finite resource, let’s do our part and use rain barrels and rain gardens.
And don’t forget to play a bit, too!
Resources:
Woelfie-Erskine, Cleo; Apryl Uncapher. 2012. Creating rain gardens : capturing rain for your own water-efficient garden. Portland : Timber Press. Engineering Library TD 657.4.W64 2012
Noah Weinstein, editor. 2013. Projects to get you off the grid : rain barrels, chicken coops, and solar panels. Selected by Instructables.com. New York : Skyhorse Publishing. Engineering Library TJ810.5 .P76 2013.
Ashok K Sharma (Ashok Kumar), editor; Donald Begbie, editor; Theordore Roosevelt Gardner, editor. 2015. Rainwater tank systems for urban water supply : design, yield, energy, health risks, economics, and social perceptions. London : IWA Publishing. Engineering Library TD418 .R35 2015