The Drought Is Over, Now What? Part 3
How You and I Can Help With the Next Drought and Beautify Our Yards at the Same Time
This past summer we experienced something in Indiana and across much of the nation that should give us a strong understanding of how important water is in our lives. I think we should all take a look at making some fundamental changes in how we look at our small part of the world. Water is our most precious resource and we are not taking care to keep it around. The solution to a lack of fresh water is two fold. We have to address both the supply and demand for fresh water.
Demand -- Native plantings, water features, and less lawn are great ways to reduce the demand on our fresh water supply.
Supply -- Install a water feature, create a rain garden, add a rain harvesting system to your water feature, install a permeable paver patio or driveway, or change the way rain drains from our lawns. Any step that can return rain water to either the atmosphere or our aqua fir and keep it out of creeks and rivers that eventually drain back into the ocean is a step in the right direction.
So how exactly does a water feature save water? The water that naturally evaporates from a water feature creates higher relative humidity. When the air is very dry, any rainfall that may come our way will never make it to the ground. The air is so dry, the rain will simply evaporate before making it to the earth below. The more water in an area, the higher the relative humidity and the more moisture makes it to the ground... like lake effect snow. A lawn of grass will not add moisture in the air and further more when the dirt is very dry it is less permeable to rain water thus making the rain run off into swails, retention ponds, combined sewers, and eventually into the ocean.
Creating a rain garden helps our water supply by capturing rain water and letting it perk slowly down through the soil to help recharge our natural aqua fir. Our natural aqua fir is essentially a large underground lake where water naturally collects between layers of rock. If you speak with someone who digs wells for a living, they will tell you they have to dig deeper and deeper to reach water. If we collect the rain water on our own property and let it slowly filter down through the soil instead of flushing off quickly through concrete ditches and creeks, we will get more water in our aqua fir.
Rainwater harvesting systems are not new. If you have ever lived on a farm or in an older home, there was probably a cistern on the property. It is a containment area that captures rain water for reuse. The systems we install are different in that they are combined with a water feature so that the rain water stays oxygenated and fresh. We attach garden hoses to the feature so you can use the stored water to water plants, the garden, wash the dog, wash the car, all kinds of uses. You and the critters enjoy a nice looking water feature while helping to keep rain water right in your own back yard. It's like a rain barrel on steroids without having to look at an unattractive rain barrel.
Permeable surfaces are another key to helping our water supply. Natural areas like woods and prairies are up to 98% permeable. The rain water that hits the ground perks through and does not run off. In the city, the concrete and roof tops are essentially 98% NON permeable. Almost all of the rain water runs off very quickly, again to storm sewers, then to rivers, and eventually the ocean. Permeable pavers for driveways, walks and patios allow the rain water to perk back down through the ground to our aqua fir.
Normally when grading a new lawn area, the idea is to get all of the water off the entire property. Why not create some natural pockets for water to pool in temporarily when it rains? Most people are concerned about mosquitoes in a pool of water. It takes mosquito larva several days to become adult mosquitoes. If water pools up, then slowly perks through the soil for a few days, the mosquito will not have time to mature. In fact, mosquitoes will lay their eggs in the standing water, the water will drain out and the larva will die. It's essentially a mosquito trap with no chemicals needed.
If we look close at some small things we can do ourselves over time and teach others about, what a difference it could make. Decreases on the demand and small changes to increase the supply will have long lasting effects in the amount of fresh water we will have available. What can you commit to?
Written by
Steve Wicker
Cool Ponds
Co-owner
This past summer we experienced something in Indiana and across much of the nation that should give us a strong understanding of how important water is in our lives. I think we should all take a look at making some fundamental changes in how we look at our small part of the world. Water is our most precious resource and we are not taking care to keep it around. The solution to a lack of fresh water is two fold. We have to address both the supply and demand for fresh water.
Demand -- Native plantings, water features, and less lawn are great ways to reduce the demand on our fresh water supply.
Supply -- Install a water feature, create a rain garden, add a rain harvesting system to your water feature, install a permeable paver patio or driveway, or change the way rain drains from our lawns. Any step that can return rain water to either the atmosphere or our aqua fir and keep it out of creeks and rivers that eventually drain back into the ocean is a step in the right direction.
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| Ponds and waterfalls put moisture in the air. |
So how exactly does a water feature save water? The water that naturally evaporates from a water feature creates higher relative humidity. When the air is very dry, any rainfall that may come our way will never make it to the ground. The air is so dry, the rain will simply evaporate before making it to the earth below. The more water in an area, the higher the relative humidity and the more moisture makes it to the ground... like lake effect snow. A lawn of grass will not add moisture in the air and further more when the dirt is very dry it is less permeable to rain water thus making the rain run off into swails, retention ponds, combined sewers, and eventually into the ocean.
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| Add moisture loving plants to your rain garden that you love like this iris. That this butterfly also happens to enjoy. Bonus! |
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| This waterfall is attached to the rain water harvesting system at Cool Ponds. It stores 1200 gallons of water from the roof of the building and back patio. |
Rainwater harvesting systems are not new. If you have ever lived on a farm or in an older home, there was probably a cistern on the property. It is a containment area that captures rain water for reuse. The systems we install are different in that they are combined with a water feature so that the rain water stays oxygenated and fresh. We attach garden hoses to the feature so you can use the stored water to water plants, the garden, wash the dog, wash the car, all kinds of uses. You and the critters enjoy a nice looking water feature while helping to keep rain water right in your own back yard. It's like a rain barrel on steroids without having to look at an unattractive rain barrel.
 |
| Permeable pavers like these at Cool Ponds have wider gaps which are filled with stone instead of sand to allow rain water to flow through. |
Normally when grading a new lawn area, the idea is to get all of the water off the entire property. Why not create some natural pockets for water to pool in temporarily when it rains? Most people are concerned about mosquitoes in a pool of water. It takes mosquito larva several days to become adult mosquitoes. If water pools up, then slowly perks through the soil for a few days, the mosquito will not have time to mature. In fact, mosquitoes will lay their eggs in the standing water, the water will drain out and the larva will die. It's essentially a mosquito trap with no chemicals needed.
If we look close at some small things we can do ourselves over time and teach others about, what a difference it could make. Decreases on the demand and small changes to increase the supply will have long lasting effects in the amount of fresh water we will have available. What can you commit to?
Steve Wicker
Cool Ponds
Co-owner
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