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Rethinking runoff as usable water supply: Activists push to capture, store rainfall

Posted by: Maven on December 28, 2009 at 6:50 am

harvesterFrom the Arizona Republic:

“TUCSON – Thickets of native trees shade the street in front of Brad Lancaster’s downtown home, a patch of urban greenery that owes its survival to the strategic management of concrete.

Lancaster and his neighbors worked with the city to cut gaps in the curb to allow storm water to fill earthen basins carved out around the trees. No drinking water is used to support the landscaping, a lush array of mesquite, paloverde, cholla and prickly pear cactus and desert shrubs.

“It used to be the streets flooded around here, and I thought, ‘It’s like a creek,’ ” said Lancaster, an author, lecturer and rainwater-harvesting evangelist. “Then I realized, it is a creek. There’s all the water we needed, and it’s free.”

With the curb cuts, the basins, some reshaping of the lot and the installation of two 1,200-gallon cisterns, Lancaster’s one-eighth-acre property can now harvest as much as 100,000 gallons a year. … “

Read more from the Arizona Republic by clicking here.

December 28, 2009 · Filed Under Flood Control/Stormwater

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