permaculture

[Marimike6@cs.com]

John--

Rainwater catchment is a perfect solution in a place like Hawa'ii. High rainfall, clean air, not a lot of pavement and an unsuitable subsoil for digging wells-- lava rock. This is the kind of place it makes a lot of sense.

Another kind of place it would make sense would be where there is no viable alternative, like the major African cities. If municipal water supplies are polluted and you can't dig a well, you would pretty much have to rig up something on your roof.

I'm fortunate. I live over a couple of hundred feet of fossil beach sand (eastern North Carolina). The rainwater doesn't even pause at the surface before soaking down to the water table. Wells are easy to dig and to maintain. We also have several aquifers down there, so if you get too many neighbors and your well water starts running short in a dry spell, you can just drill another hundred feet down and get the "first sip" of an untapped aquifer. I realize not everyone enjoys this blessing.

Count your blessings if you have clean, abundant water. Life gets desperate and sad when the rains don't come and the well don't perk.

M. Elvin