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SIERRA VISTA — Some locals don’t just watch the rain fall. They shower, clean, cook and garden with it.
Eli Rose and Amanda Webb’s home, located off Highway 80 south of Tombstone, was one of four locations putting the rain to use featured on Saturday’s WaterWise Rainwater Harvesting Tour.
They have lived in the rain-harvesting house for about four years. Together they use about 16 gallons each day, Rose said.
“It definitely has changed what the rains mean to me,” Webb said. “I appreciate it a whole lot more.”
  
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At first they didn’t know what to expect, so they were conservative with their water used on their yard, Webb said. They are finding a balance.
She remembered watching the rain collection system for the first time and the tanks filled up and began overflowing.
“I was filling every trash can I could and dancing in the rain,” Webb said.
Once rain hits their galvanized aluminum roof, it flows into their gutters. One gutter acts like a cleanser, collecting the first few gallons of water with bugs and other debris. Once that fills, water flows through PVC pipes into two 3,000-gallon tanks.
The late spring is the lowest their water supply falls, but this year they still had 2,000 gallons left.
“We’ve never run out,” Webb said.
The water runs through a filter and is pumped into the home. Their filtration isn’t drinking level quality, but an ultraviolet light water purifier is something they’re interested in.
“I think that might be in our future,” Webb said.
For now they use the water for bathing, cooking, dishes and gardening. They have a composting toilet, take their laundry off site and buy drinking water.
Two of their sinks and their shower drains go directly to their yard, watering their rosemary plants and a peach tree. They just have to use biodegradable soaps, Webb said.
About once a year, they have the water tested to make sure it’s safe. So far, they haven’t had any problems, she said.
Two rain water systems open to the public year-round, one at the University of Arizona South Plant Sciences Center and one at the San Pedro House, were also on the tour this year.
The rainwater collection system at the San Pedro House has only been installed for a few months.
The project was a good fit with the efforts of the Friends of the San Pedro because water conservation is vital for the river, said Ted Mouras, president of the group.
Along with utilizing rainwater, they also wanted to add a xeriscape garden at the San Pedro House.
“It’s possible to create an alternative that attracts butterflies and birds but uses little or no ground water,” he said.
The water collected comes off the 900-square-foot ramada roof. Screened gutters surrounding the ramada direct the water down different pipes, to their two 100-gallon barrels or the 1,550-gallon tank.
A 60-watt solar panel also was installed on the ramada roof and powers a light under the ramada and a water pump for the large tank.
When the switch is flipped, the pump directs water to the garden’s drip-system.
The Friends of the San Pedro received a grant from the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona for $10,000 for the collection system and garden. So far, the group has spent about $7,500. They also plan to create brochures on xeriscape and rain harvesting and add signs in the garden.
The plants for the garden, designed by Cheri Melton, a Cochise County master gardener, are all native, drought-tolerant plants, said master gardener Sarah Turan.
“Trying to locate them perhaps was the biggest challenge,” she said. Some were bought locally, and the rest in Tucson.
Although they are drought-tolerant, they will be watering some of the plants until they become well-established.
“You plant it, you watch it and you give it what it needs,” Turan said.
Sometimes they can only do so much, especially when gophers are around.
“They took out a couple of my plants,” she said.
But they knew they would be planting not just for visitors, but also for the birds, caterpillars, butterflies, javelina, deer and other wildlife, Turan said.
About 70 visitors, many considering their own rainwater collection systems, attended the tour.
Brian Simms and Helen Jones, volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, took the tour to find out what systems could be offered to Habitat for Humanity homeowners. It even got them thinking about trying rain harvesting at their homes.
They hope to show Habitat for Humanity homeowners what the cost of the different systems are and how much money it saves them over time, Simms said.
“And how much it will save the Earth,” Jones said.
REPORTER Laura Ory can be reached at 515-4683 or by e-mail at laura.ory@svherald.com.
ADVICE
“No water” and “low water” native plants
Once these Cochise County native plants are established all the water they’ll need can come from the rain or will require watering once every few weeks.
Ground covers & wildflowers
• No water: Arizona blue eyes, Arizona poppy, Bahia, desert zinnia
• Low water: Buckwheat, fairy duster, paper flower and some milkweed.
Vines
• No water: Fringed twinevine
• Low water: Morning glory
Shrubs
• No water: Agave, Apache plume, desert broom, desert spoon, ocotillo, silk tassel
• Low water: Bear grass, coral bean, creosote bush, crucillo, dalea, feather acacia, kidneywood, lycium, mountain mahogany, rabbitbrush, snakewood, sumac
About Rain Water Harvesting Tax Credits
Arizona taxpayers with a water conservation system, harvesting gray water or rainwater, in their home can receive a one-time tax credit of 25 percent of the system cost, up to $1,000.
The tax credit is eligible for systems installed since January 2007.
Apply as soon as possible to qualify because only $250,000 per year have been allocated for this tax credit.
For more information or for forms visit www.azdor.gov and click on “Credit Pre-Certification,” then on “Gray Water Conservation Tax Credit.”
Source: Water Wise
desert wombat wrote on Jul 17, 2008 5:21 PM: