Living Green

By Terri Jo Ryan

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Whether it helps you save the planet or simply shave a few bucks off your monthly water bill, rainwater collection is an idea whose time has come back.

Since ancient times, farmers have salvaged rainwater in basins. Even 100 years ago, most homes in America had a rain barrel in the backyard for tending to the family garden.

But for the last 40 years or so, it seems like only old hippies or young greenies conscientiously harvested rainfall to save the Earth. In recent years, though, mainstream Americans seeking to lessen their impact on the planet have revived the practice.

Rainwater can be used for washing the car, showering, flushing the toilet, doing the laundry — and even drinking, if treated with UV light. And gardeners attest that plants thrive on this richly oxygenated water.

Some 30 to 50 percent of local water consumption goes toward landscape irrigation, according to Shane McLellan, McLennan County agent for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

“If that demand for a limited natural resource can be reduced, everyone benefits,” he said.

Rainwater is popular with gardeners, he added, because it is free of the salts, other minerals and chemicals found in the municipal water that can harm root growth. As rainwater percolates into the soil, forcing salts away from root zones, roots thrive and make plants more drought tolerant.

Rainwater harvesting can also help prevent flooding and erosion, turning storm water problems into water supply assets by slowing runoff and allowing it to soak into the ground, he said.

“As rainwater runoff leaves our lawns and roadways, it carries a large amount of ‘trash’ and polluting constituents from our lawns and roadways into our drinking water,” McLellan said. So harvesting rainwater reduces the amount of polluting constituents that do enter the water supply. 

Among the people in the Central Texas area who look to the sky for a free water supply are the staff and volunteers at World Hunger Relief Inc.

Matt Hess, education director for the training farm, said interns are discussing the possibility of conducting rainwater harvesting classes for the general public.

The farm has a demonstration of such a system at its “Nicaragua House,” a straw bale home built and operated with Third World technology. The house features a rain-fed outdoor shower that uses a hand-pump to get water from the above-ground cistern into the holding tanks.

“The problem with rainwater is, in Waco and Central Texas, it rains a lot in the winter, when you don’t need it, and in the summer it doesn’t rain enough, so you’re talking about storage,” he said.

The average Waco-area homeowner, Hess added, would need a storage capacity of about 10,000 gallons to take full advantage of the annual rainfall here.

Many folks start rainwater collections with only a barrel or two. So how can you get started?

Fernando Arroyo, director of family services for Habitat for Humanity’s Waco office, has become smitten with the concept of harvesting rainwater, and has been collecting the heavenly freebie for more than three months.

He started by researching different kinds of rainwater harvest systems before buying two barrels from a Bellmead farmer. He linked PVC pipes to “daisy chain” the barrels, and hooked one up to the rain gutter off the roof of his covered carpark.

He estimates that he spent less than $40 on materials to put together the system, which enables him to easily irrigate about 80 square feet of garden. The veggie patch, he added, supplies half the produce needs of his family — wife Carrie and 9-month-old son Jonas.

By elevating the tanks a foot off the ground, Arroyo gets 3 pounds-per-square-inch water pressure, enough to run a hose into the vegetable beds or fill a watering can. He figures he’ll have plenty of lubrication for his winter garden of cabbage, kale and spinach.

Arroyo said even the 15-minute shower Sept. 13 (when Hurricane Ike blew through the area) filled his two drums to capacity.

His abiding interests in the urban sustainability movement led him in this direction, he said.

“I’m very interested in creating autonomous communities and promoting urban ecological survival skills to help alleviate poverty with simple, inexpensive technology,” he said.

And it doesn’t get much simpler than collecting rain to irrigate his vegetable patch, added Arroyo.

He’s so pleased with the reclamation, he said, he’s already planning to add two more barrels to the plan.

Arroyo’s far from alone in his quest for a greener lifestyle.

Aaron Pena, principal of Provident Heights Elementary, said he, too, has a keen interest in resource conservation and urban sustainability. He’s been harvesting rainwater for more than three years.

“It was just killing me to see all the water wasted every time it rained and it all ran off,” he said.

He was inspired, he said, by touring the Nicaragua House at World Hunger Relief, and researched his DIY project online.

Pena currently uses two 55-gallon drums, but said he plans to expand; he estimates he’s only catching about 30 percent of what hits his roof.

“I have a number of gutters, and some spouts go right into the ground. But I think I could use another 5 barrels,” Pena said.

He has found that 100 gallons of rainwater lasts about a month in the summer heat. He uses it to water the chickens, small trees and plants around the yard. He estimates he’s saved at least $1,000 per year from not having to use city water for irrigation.

Pena plans someday to also use rainwater to wash clothes (it’s pH neutral and naturally “soft,” and doesn’t require much soap) and for flushing the toilet.

tjryan@wacotrib.com