I would like to use the rain water from the rainspout when it rains in the summer. Is this a bad idea? I'm in a desert so conserving the water appeals to me. Right now the gutters go to a french sewer, which in turn goes nowhere. What a waste.
I would be making a small river to the actual pond.
Thanks. Joanna
Joanna, Using rain water is fine. I would have the water drop into a trash can or tub and add a turn on/off valve to the bottom of can or tub. So that way the pond won't flood if you get to much rain.
good advice...thanks leon
I agree that some sort of rain barrel would be better than just letting it run in whenever it rains. You can use trash cans for rain barrels, but you want to put a screen over the top that prevents any debris or mosquitoes from getting in there. You may also want to consider installing a little spigot towards the bottom of the barrel so you can easily dispense water. Some folks also put their rain barrels up on concrete blocks so they can put a watering can or bucket under the spigot.
Here are some links to informational websites and do-it-yourself plans:
http://www.thegreenguide.org/diy/rain.php http://www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/Product.asp?PG=1563
http://www.savingwater.org/docs/rainbarrel.pdf
http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/PI/pdf/covington-rain-barrels.pdf
http://www.homeandgardenmakeover.com/rainbarrel.html
If you're not handy, you can buy them already made, too:
http://www.gardeners.com/sell.asp?ProdGroupID=15847&DeptPGID=17599&lstCategory=17615&lstSort=0&PFImage=1&RecGroupNum=1
Drooling here!That is perfect grass!What a spot!If you are going to be there awhile,work gradually away from the gutter,you can start a top pool close to the house.I agree with a-leon,a water barrel would be great!I wish my full oak barrel still held water.
Root
Root, you could put a liner inside the barrel to hold water again. Cool links Butterfly
I've been seriously thinking about getting or making a rainbarrel, so I've been researching them a little bit already. Water is so expensive here in FL and also getting to be a little bit of a scarcity. Folks are screaming for water down in south FL. We've got water restrictions here in Central FL that aren't likely to go away any time soon. North FL and the panhandle are ok, but there aren't any of the huge metro areas with gads of golf courses sucking up tons of water a day. The water fights in FL are just starting. Mark my words, we're going to end up like some of the places in the southwest having water piped in and fighting over water rights.
My current rain storage system is two mop buckets under the eaves of the house. It works, but I only have about 6-8 gallons of water max. that I can save at any given time. I use that mostly on my houseplants. I'd like to up that so I can use it outside on my plants and gardens, too. I just haven't had enough time and ambition to make one and right now have too many doctor bills that the ins. might decide not to pay to go and just buy one.
Thanks butterfly for the links, very helpful!!! Thanks for the compliment and the advice root. It's a desert grass from Mesa, AZ. Not sure what. The previous owners of the house put it in so I can't take credit for it.
If you are going to save rain water from a roof for a pond you need to be very sure that your flashing and gutters and such are not made of copper since a high concentration of copper can kill your fish.
my husband has rigged up 7 55 gal. barrels under all the downspout on the house, garage and shed.We used plastic barrels from food products (pie filling I think-they smelled like blueberries!) that we got at a fleamarket for $8 ea. He put a spigot at the bottom and made screen tops for them, that way you can dip or drain(slowly-not much water pressure). I use mosquito dunks or mosquito bits in them once a month. They are a great source of free water and handy to rinse your hands etc.We do empty them before winter to prevent freezing and splitting. The only drawback is that they are Smurf blue and stick out like a sore thumb in the landscape-my next project is to get him to box them in with white lattice backed with black screen!
mwhit,
The smurf blue barrels hold up much better in the sun than the white ones. Your idea of lattice backed with black is a good one.
ButterflyGardnr's
I also live in Florida. Tampabay area. You will not believe what I did to capture rain water. First we live in at the bottom of a road. When it rains ten minutes after it stops I still have 2 inches flowing through the yard.
A few years back I found this very large septic tank in the front yard. I would guess to say it is 12' X 8' X 12'! I dug a trench to it. Lining that with a weed liner. And placing rocks on top of it. Next I knock off the air cap on the top-side of the septic tank. That gave me a 6" hole for the water to enter.
I've seen this tank fill up in a couple of hours of hard rain. Its leach field is still working just fine.
Next in the back yard instead of allowing the water to flow into my neighbor's yard(s) I raised the edge of the yard by 16"! It is nothing to have a good rain and look in the back yard and see a 6" of water 8 feet deep. Of course it does not take long for it to drain into the soil here.
Now I could pump this back out of the septic tank. However in a day or so it is empty. What is interesting is while a couple of my neigbors wells all but quit pumping last year mine pumps clear water at full speed!
There is a high ridge line (under-ground--you cannot see it--low water table there) that runs though my yard at an angle. This ridge just cuts the corner of the yard. (Northern side of yard.) Unfortunately, my sand pine (60 plus footer) was on the far side of that ridge and died for lack of water during the drought. On the inside of the ridge (where the septic tank is) I lost nothing. The neighbor on the other side (Southern neighbor) lost 5 orange trees. Her well quit. I can only guess there is some sort of hard pan under my yard. However, that should not be. Or a second ridge on the south side of my yard that V's into the northern one. Not sure--go figure uh?
Nevertheless, I truely believe if it was not for that septic tank and my raised edges I would have lost much more.
BTW you could see for miles everyone who had a sand pine if it was on that ridge lost it. All of them almost in a straight line. Some well over 50 years old. I'm told the one we lost was here before the house was built. And that was 1950.
This message was edited Oct 6, 2003 6:57 AM
