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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Water, water, water, was Ram pump rules of thumb
  • Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2006 09:43:27 -0500

From James:

It has also burned in the fact, which we all know but sometimes it isn't such a reality, that you can only have as much garden as you have water. Of all the factors in raising your own food: mulch, compost, nitrogen, sunshine, etc. it is water the most dictatorial and absolute.

Land seekers: burn this into your brains! Again, again and again. It is common sense; we all know it, yet again and again we learn of people whose lives are diminished by lack of sufficient water. Worry much more about quantity than quality. Quality can be improved. Quantity often cannot.

That said, Don and I were tossing around the idea of rain water collection. This subject merits further discussion. I say calculate your annual water needs, double that, then calculate how large a roof would be needed to get that much water with your MINIMUM average annual rainfall. It seems to me that we here can come up with a very-low-cost roof that puts rainwater into a vessel that sits higher than our houses and gardens. You flatlanders may have pressure challenges but at 2.2 feet elevation per pound of pressure, it takes only a small hill to provide adequate household pressure. Garden irrigation can be and is often ideal at low pressure.

Now don't let this rainwater collection stuff cause you to lose that mantra: I need water; I need water; I need water. Repeat regularly.






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