Recently, I had a rain water cistern, called a RainXchange System, installed on my front lawn by Aquascape, Inc.* Above you
see a photo of the final product which features a gorgeous water fountain that
is made partially from recycled materials.
It is a fantastic green and
sustainable solution for my garden - I use it to wash my car and water my front
lawn vegetable garden and plant containers. The fountain keeps the water aerated
and is a beautiful garden feature as well. This system is really for the every
day homeowner and offers some amazing benefits.
Why should YOU get a rain water
cistern?
#1 - It saves money
The average U.S. household with a averaged sized lot uses up to 3,000 gallons
of water weekly for landscape irrigation. This costs money. Collecting rain
water allows you to save that money.
Millions of dollars of our tax payer money is used every time it rains to
maintain and repair public storm water and sewer systems. By collecting your own
water and withholding it from the storm water systems, you save that money to be utilized in another fashion.
#2 - It conserves water
Water conservation is important. Approximately one inch of
rainfall on a 2,000 square foot roof creates 1,250 gallons of water that can be
reused by your household. If you run a sprinkler for a few hours, it can easily
use around 500 gallons of water. It is estimated that annually, 66,175 gallons
of water are used outdoors per U.S. household.
Why are we being so wasteful when it is not necessary? Reducing water demand
in the U.S. is important when 26 of our states is currently suffering from "drought
conditions".
#3 - It is better for the environment
Plants which are watered with rain water lack the chlorine and other
chemicals which most cities use to process our drinking water. While water from
a rain water cistern is considered non-potable because it has not been
chemically treated, it is magnificent to use for our plants as they will not
have to absorb additional chemicals (like chlorine) and will grow better.
If you include a fountain with the cistern system, you will also encourage
wildlife to come to your yard. Just today I saw a lot of new life in my garden -
squirrels, chipmunks, several varieties of bees and butterflies, doves,
cardinals, wrens, and a robin who discovered how to use the water fountain as a
bird bath (see picture at right).
#4 - It reduces regional flooding
The more water we are able to keep out of the over-used storm water systems,
the more we will be able to reduce flooding and erosion. Beyond saving tax-payer
money, if everyone owned a rain water cistern, we would be reducing the amount
of water which floods and erodes our regions.
Below is a video which shows the amazing process of how Aquascape Inc. installed this cistern on my property; a traditional suburban residence in the Chicagoland
area. Please check it out!
- http://www.thecasualgardener.com,
- The Green Blog - http://www.gardeningnude.com, or
- The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com
- and The Community Help Blog - www.grow1world.com
*Special note - - Aquascape, Inc. sponsored the installation of
this residential RainXchange System in exchange for my services. This
sponsorship does NOT effect my opinion about rain water collection or rain water
cisterns, which I believe are amazingly good for the environment. This post will be placed on all my blogs as it is focused on dual subject matter.
Filed under: Save Money, Save Water
Tags: @globalfooter, Aquascape, cistern, eco, green, rain barrel, rainwater cistern, save money, save water, Water Conservation
Finally had a chance to watch this. It's VERY cool! The cistern is not at all what I expected; I was imagining a big round tank of some sort. This kind of system should be standard on any new house construction; it just makes so much sense. Thanks for sharing!
Shawna, that is a great project! We use a rain barrel collector on one of our home rain gutter downspouts, and I've been planning to add more. The cistern idea is super!
great article..great video..
rainwater collection has become a must nationwide.
above ground water tanks and rainbarrels are ideal, also underground cisterns for water storage work well also. They are ribbed for added strength. Leading manufacturers are Snyder, Norwesco, Ace Rotomold. You can purchase their products through www.plastic-mart.com
That is a very beautiful rain harvesting system. However it is not very affordable. I am just starting out and could not afford to do that. Although they don't look as good I got a slimline tank from bushmanusa that just sits under the eaves of my house. Amazon had some decent one too but they were to small for my house.