Rain Giving You the Blues?

So far this month, we've had 5.93" of rainfall at the shop (that's almost 2" above normal).

That number may not sound like a lot, but let's look at it this way: 1" of rainfall on a 2000 square foot roof is 1,250 gallons of water. So with the total amount of rainfall we've had this month, that's about 7,400 gallons. In Cool Ponds terms, that's two Journey-sized ponds full of water, plus a few hundred gallons extra!

Allowing rainwater to fall from your roof and flood paved streets or block up already struggling storm drains just doesn't make sense. That water is wasted. Not taking advantage of this plethora of rain is draining natural resources and your wallet.

Here at the shop, we've drastically reduced our water bill and environmental impact by installing a rainwater harvesting system. Rain from our roof drains into our permeable paver patio and is stored underneath the patio in a rubber liner reservoir. In the reservoir, we have a pump vault which powers a small waterfall to provide aeration to the reservoir and a hose which we can use to water plants or fill our patio bowls.

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Underneath this patio is 1,200 gallons of usable rainwater!

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We use the rainwater from this hose to top off our ponds, water our plants, and fill our bird baths.

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This attractive water fall aerates the reservoir underneath the patio.

Aquascape's Ed Beaulieu explains a little bit more about how the system works in this video.

Interested in learning more? I've found some great resources that express the importance of water conservation much more eloquently than I can. Check out Harvest H2O, Indianapolis' Green Infrastructure Info Page, and Water Use It Wisely, with all kinds of water-saving tips.

kw icon --written by Cool Ponds staff member Kasey Wicker

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