If there’s one thing to know about hurricanes, it’s this: They’re hard to predict.
For example, Hurricane Lorena was predicted to visit the western coast of North America, and she certainly did. She caused major flooding in western Mexico, then headed back out to sea.
Despite her avoidance of the United States, the weather forecasters still predicted major rainfall for southern Arizona. As in, one to two inches.
Didn’t happen.
We got a paltry .02″ of rain, and, Lorena, color us very disappointed in you.
Be that as it may, I still lowered the water level in my cistern, just in case it overflowed.
What happens when this cistern overflows? Well, I have an overflow basin for it. (See above photo.)
As you can see in the photo, there’s rain in this basin, but there’s something missing: Mulch. I took this photo before I added mulch to the basin, and that mulch is there to help with water absorption.
That mulch proved its worth during the storms brought by Lorena’s prolific successor, Mario. He left us with .45″ of rain, and I noticed a lot less pooling in the cistern overflow basin.
Not that my cistern has overflowed this year. Right now, it’s at around 1,300 gallons and the capacity is 1,500 gallons.
Another Learning Opportunity!
Check out Martha’s new audiobook and eBook, Water Harvesting 101. It will help you get your water harvesting journey off to a strong start.