My last Quick Tip dealt with the idea of irrigating your garden on the cheap if you have a sump pump in your basement. I happen to have two, so my gardens get plenty of water (as does my basement, sigh). But what if you are one of those fortunate home owners who has a dry basement? What are you to do, besides spending your money on municipal water, or using up your precious well-water resources?
Get a rainbarrel! If you have gutters and downspouts, have rainbarrels at the downspout areas to collect the water from your roof when it rains. Some fancy rainbarrels have spigots at the bottom, where you can turn the knob and activate the flowing water.
If you don’t have gutters and downspouts, you can place the rainbarrels in strategic areas around the corners of your home (assuming your house has corners). The water will drop from the roof into the barrel. It’s a little messier, but it does work.
You can attach a punctured garden hose to the spigot. The water will flow through the garden hose and slowly drizzle out.
Photo courtesy of City of Austin.
21. February 2008 at 2:28 am
Do you have any ideas for those who have a dry basement and live in a state where it is illegal to catch rainwater? (Yes, as insane as it is, there are a few states where it is illegal to catch rainwater because of prior appropriation laws, and we happen to live in one.)
21. February 2008 at 11:47 pm
Wow, Paula, you can’t catch rainwater?!? I’m flabbergasted! Is it because of drought conditions?
Anyway, if you can’t catch rain water and you have a dry basement, your only other recourse is to consider “gray water,” which is the waste water that comes from your washing machine and dishwasher. You’d have to do some heavy-duty finagaling with the drainage system of your home, however. But it’s your only other alternative if you really don’t want to use municipal or well water for irrigation purposes.
22. February 2008 at 12:34 am
Yeah, I was pretty shocked too when I was told. But the water company and all the way up to the government told me it was against the law in the state of Colorado (and from my understanding parts of AZ and NM too). But it is from an OLD OLD law called prior appropriation, which basically says that the rainwater that falls on my property (which then falls off and becomes part of streams and rivers) belongs to someone else who has paid to access that stream/river. SO if I caught rainwater, I Would be stealing from them. It’s insane, I know.
I was hoping to find a cheaper way than the grey water route. Especially since I am unsure how long we will be living here.
I would have thought during the drought they would have recended the law, but they didn’t. And with the houses in Colorado being monitored by satellite (because we are now being charged for the runoff from our property and they need to monitor any changes we make to our property to know how much runoff we are accumulating based on what they call impervious surface), I cannot even sneak a rain catcher in.
Thanks for the suggestions anyway.
22. February 2008 at 1:49 am
HOLY COW. And I thought New York was over-regulated. Wow.
However, we have far too MUCH water here. I suffer flooding with heavy rainfall. I only wish we could get it to CO somehow.
All the best with your water situation. Yeah, I’s be thinking of moving, too.