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City Asks Residents Use Rain Water to Water Gardens
Posted: Feb 22, 2013 4:11 PM by Caroline Flores - cflores@kristv.com
Updated: Feb 22, 2013 4:32 PM
CORPUS CHRISTI - Our drought situation is not getting any better, so the city is trying to push residents to start using other methods to water their plants and gardens.
Watering plants or a garden like this one can use up a lot of water, water the city just can't afford to lose right now. So the city is promoting using rain water instead of city water to keep plants and gardens looking green.
Jerry Speed, who has been harvesting and using rain water for about 7 to 8 years now says everyone should do it.
"Nothing works like rain water, and so I catch every drop I can," said Speed.
When it does rain Speed catches all the water that runs off his roof. It flows from the gutters into barrels and he hold it there until his plants need it.
"Nothing gets wasted. It all goes into that. Into the barrels," said Speed.
According to the city an average home can collect 900 gallons of water from one inch of rainfall. This year alone, we've gotten over an inch and a half of rainfall.
"That's over a thousand gallons that you could potentially harvest," said Brent Clayton with the city Water Department.
Speed says with these 9 barrels alone, he can collect up to 500 gallons of rain water. By not using city water to water his garden, Speed says he easily saves 2 to 3 hundred dollar a year.
"And the plants seem to prefer the rain water rather than the city water," said Speed.
Speed says there is one other very good advantage to using rain water instead of city water.
"I can water right now. It's illegal to use city water, but I can now," said Speed.
The water collected through rain water harvesting should only be used to water plants, gardens, or to fill bird baths. It should never be used as drinking water unless you have a filtering system.
If you are interested in making your own rain water barrel or learning more about rain water harvesting check out the A&M AgriLife Extension website - here.
If you would be interested in the city having a class about rain water harvesting email Brent Clayton brentc@cctexas.com. Have the subject line be "rain water harvesting."
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