Unlike most of the rest of the United States, Tucson isn’t covered with snow and suffering through sub-freezing temperatures. But yes, it does snow here. (See above photo.) In this episode, I’ll view snowfall from the perspective of a Southwestern water harvester.
Transcript
INTRO: From Tucson, Arizona, welcome to the Water Harvesting 101 podcast. My name is Martha Retallick. I’ve been a water harvester for 20 years, and I’m looking forward to helping you get started.
Before we do that, here’s a little Tucson secret: For most of the year, we’re in drought. That’s just how life is in the desert.
But when the rains return, oh, do they ever. They often bring an unwelcome friend called flooding.
How do we reduce the risks of flooding? We do it with water harvesting.
Water harvesting encompasses three activities:
- Redirecting rainwater away from where it isn’t wanted to where it is.
- Storing rainwater for later use, for example, during a drought.
- Recycling “used” water. At my place, I don’t let laundry water go down the drain. Instead, it’s for the fruit trees.
We’ll be covering all of these topics and more, so let’s get started.
EPISODE: Unlike most of the rest of the United States, Tucson isn’t experiencing sub-freezing temperatures.
We also haven’t had any snow this winter.
Does it snow in Tucson? Yes.
In this podcast, I’m going to look at snowfall through the perspective of a water harvester. Let’s start with water harvesting activity number one, relocating rainwater away from where you don’t want it to where you do.
Rainwater? Actually, it’s snowfall.
And what do we do with our berms, basins, and swales? We let the snow melt into the ground.
Since our basins have mulch in them, usually organic mulch like wood bark or wood chips, that snowfall is going to gradually soak into the ground.
The mulch is there to act as a blanket to retain the moisture. It also acts as a braking system to slow the water down as it’s sinking into the ground.
Let’s move on to activity number two, storing rainwater for later use. In this instance, we’ll be storing melted snow.
After it snows, I notice that my rain gutters, and the plumbing system leading into the cistern, are quite busy.
Does this mean, say, if we’ve had a one-inch snowfall, I’m going to have the equivalent of one inch of rain in the cisterns, i.e., 250 gallons? No.
Here’s the thing about measuring snowfall: If you have a rain gauge like I do, just allow the snow to fall into the funnel at the top of the rain gauge. Let it sit there. In time, it will melt.
Over time, the melted water will flow into the measuring tube below your funnel and that will tell you the amount of water that just fell from the sky.
Are you going to get one inch of water? Probably not. It’ll be substantially less than an inch.
Let’s move on to activity number three, recycling used water. During a snowstorm, give this activity a break.
You’re getting plenty of moisture from the sky, and if it’s like most snowstorms around here, it will melt gradually and soak into the ground. It also will add more water to your cistern.
If you’d like to learn more about water harvesting, sign up for my monthly email newsletter. If you do, I’ll give you a free copy of my Water Harvesting Cheat Sheet.
And if you’d like to support the Water Harvesting 101 podcast, the PayPal email address is info@westernskycommunications.com.
OUTRO: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Water Harvesting 101 podcast. If you’d like to learn more about water harvesting, meet my book family.
First, it’s City Nature, the book that’s guaranteed to look great on any coffee table. City Nature reveals my secrets to water harvesting through my 20-year journey of transforming my Tucson home into an urban oasis. Get the details at CityNatureBook.com.
And if you’re on the go, take water harvesting with you. Water Harvesting 101 is an audiobook and eBook combination that will teach you the nuts and bolts of water harvesting and show you how to put them to work. Available exclusively at WaterHarvesting101Book.com.