“Everytime it rains, it rains pennies from Heaven”.

“Everytime it rains, it rains pennies from Heaven”

The classic song and movie of the same name “ Pennies from Heaven” had much more wisdom in it than most realized back in the 30’s, and with inflation, it could be titled ‘dollars from heaven’. Everytime it rains, we are showered with opportunities to collect and reuse water in ways that can save homeowners and municipalities significant amounts of money.

The Piedmont area of North Carolina receives an abundant annual rainfall ( ?) and yet we experience periodic droughts and subsequent water restrictions. Say “stormwater management” and most folks assume that’s the domain of developers and municipalities. But stormwater, or rainwater, is a valuable resource that homeowners can harvest and reap benefits from. When rain falls on natural areas, it is filtered by plants and soil as it soaks back into the ground and replenishes the groundwater. When rain falls on impervious surfaces - rooftops, roads, and parking lots - stormwater runoff is created, which picks up pollutants - fertilizer, pesticides, sediment, motor oil, litter, and pet and yard waste - and sends them either to streams or through the storm water system to be treated. 

Since residential water use accounts for 47 percent of all water supplied to U.S. communities by public and private utilities, homeowners have the power to make a significant contribution towards water conservation. The key is to capture and keep the rainwater that falls on your property on site. There are multiple options– from simple do-it-yourself rain barrel installations to more complex professionally designed rainwater catchment and recycling systems, as well as landscaping techniques, such as berms, swales and plantings.

 “They saved us in the drought”, claims Linda Rodriguez, a North Raleigh homeowner, who along with her husband, Bob, started with one rain barrel. They now have seven that supply ample water to their lush one acre garden of annuals, perennials and vegetables.  For every inch of rainfall, a typical 2,000 square foot home can collect 1,200 gallons of water - this could translate into 30,000 gallons of water per year – imagine what you could do with all that water! Rain barrels are simply connected to your downspout and have a spigot for attaching a hose. They can be purchased through Rain Water Solutions (www.rainwatersolutions.com). If you are ready for larger scale water collection, cisterns are another option (www.braewater.com or www.rainpro.biz).

Raingardens are also an excellent method for keeping your rainwater on site. Designed as a shallow depression in the ground planted with native species, a rain garden captures runoff from your driveway or roof, allowing it to soak into the ground, rather than running across roads, capturing pollutants, and delivering them to a stream or down the stormdrain. Because the plants and soil absorb and filter pollutants, they return cleaner water to the ground or stream. Rain gardens reduce flooding by sending the water back underground, rather than into the street. Cooperative Extension at NC State offers specific directions for creating and maintaining rain gardens at www.wakegov.com/environment/water/stormwater.htm. 

An excellent DVD on this subject, Reining in the Storm One Building at a Time, by Dave Eckert (www.virginiavillageproductions.com) describes Low Impact Design/ Development (LID), an approach to creating clean water supplies and healthy communities. It is based on the premise that stormwater management should not be seen as stormwater disposal. Instead of collecting, managing and treating it in large, costly end-of-pipe facilities, LID sees stormwater as a resource that can be utilized through small, cost-effective landscape features located at the individual lot level, both residential and commercial. 

Gray water systems are a water recycling process  successfully applied in other parts of the country, but relatively new in North Carolina. A family of four will produce approximately 100 to 200 gallons of gray water per day from showers and baths alone. If you reuse that water for irrigation, you return it to the ground water table, saving the municipal government the cost of treatment, and reducing the burden on overloaded municipal infrastructures or septic systems.

For an advanced education in innovative water reuse, go to www.waterrecycling.com.  Dr. Hal House has created an ecological wastewater recycling system at the former Triangle School in Chatham County, the home of his consulting business, Integrated Water Strategies. This is the first on-site treatment facility of its kind in North Carolina and it demonstrates his motto “cleaning water the way nature does”. Wastewater is purified for reclamation and reuse using constructed wetlands, and a greenhouse containing soil filters and an aquatic ecosystem. Nutrients from the wastewater are captured and used later as fertilizer for landscape plants.

It has been estimated that using rainwater for watering gardens, irrigating lawns, flushing toilets, and washing cars, could reduce potable water consumption by 65% in America’s homes and buildings. This translates to lower residential water bills, less municipal expenditures for pumping and treating water, and more availability during periods of high demand and drought, as well as a more positive impact on the environment. Another advantage of collecting and reusing rainwater is that it does not contain the chemicals that treated municipal water does and plants thrive on natural rainwater. And the best part is – it’s free!