RAINWATER HARVESTING

Our water tables are dropping and water prices are rising. We must start living within our means by harvesting rainwater. When people hear of rainwater harvesting, they think of the rural farm. This is no longer the case. We must start harvesting this resource even in our urban areas. Cities create the largest stress on our aquifer. The average Albuquerque resident uses 177 gallons of water a day. Last year (2005) Albuquerque pumped 36 billion gallons of water from the aquifer. Once estimated to be the size of Lake Superior, the Middle Rio Grande Aquifer has shrunk 200 feet in the last 30 years. 95% of the Rio Grande is diverted, and in some places it runs dry. Soon we will divert water from the Rio Grande for our drinking water. Despite the diminishing freshwater supply, our stormwater management has changed little in 50 years. We continue to apply technology from an era when we thought we would never run out of water. Now, the future is looking dry.

So what can you do? Start harvesting rainwater! Soilutions can help. We strive to turn Albuquerque into the model for urban rainwater harvesting. In order to sustain our growing population in the arid southwest, we must achieve this goal. With an average rainfall of 9 inches, a 1,000 square foot house can harvest about 5,400 gallons of rainwater a year. You can use this water to grow your own organic food, water your landscape, flush your toilets, wash your clothes, drink, etc…. By harvesting rainwater you cut down on your water bill and, all the while, are environmentally responsible. We call it being a rainwater steward.

Living in New Mexico, we know we must conserve our precious aquifer to ensure we have available water for years to come. But when you drive around Albuquerque, you notice that every yard and concrete parking lot is designed to shed water from the site. Recently in Rio Rancho you saw the damage that surface water can do. Despite its necessity and growing scarcity, people often treat water as a nuisance and dispose of it as they would a plastic bottle, only to go buy another one at the store. Developers and builders spend large amounts of money making sure rainwater leaves their sites. Most of this water is directed to storm drains and funneled into concrete lined channels, eventually dumping into arroyos and river systems. This causes arroyos to swell and become larger, straighter, and more dangerous, causes more extensive erosion, and creates flooding downstream. Surface water runoff from streets and parking lots contain a large number of pollutants that flow straight into our river. By directing stormwater through healthy soils, the pollutants can be filtered before reaching the aquifer.

Our goal with any landscape is to create a yard that harvests 100% of the water that falls on it. At Soilutions, we use a number of techniques to slow down and control water. By simply slowing water down and letting it infiltrate into the ground, we can help recharge the aquifer, reduce soil erosion, and water our landscape. When we push stormwater at dangerous speeds into large, concrete arroyos, it loses any opportunity to absorb into the ground where it might replenish the aquifer. Soilutions’ landscapes stop this take-only cycle and completes the circle by becoming rainwater stewards.

We use two different rainwater-harvesting systems: passive and active.

Passive Rainwater Harvesting

Passive rainwater harvesting uses earthworks that control surface water and promotes its storage in the soil. This system requires planning and studying of the land and its natural waterways. We are trained to determine where water flows and how to effectively control it. We capture water from roof runoff and direct it to shallow, planted basins or areas where the water can infiltrate the soil. Conventional landscapers form planted mounds that shed rainwater and dry out quickly. We form depressions to create an area that will naturally collect surface water. We use soil excavated from the depressions to form raised pathways that remain high and dry during rains. We create unique organic pathways that allow you to meander through your garden, but lead you to your destination. Then, we mulch these depressions to retain moisture in the soil and make it available to plants over a longer period. Water is stored at least 10 feet’ from foundations of any buildings.

By using these techniques, we can transform a dry gravel landscape into an oasis fed by rainwater. We install drip irrigation systems to help establish naturalized and native plants. Once established, the landscape will require irrigation only during times of drought. We can create a sustainable and ecologically friendly landscape in any home.

We achieve control of water by using the earthworks listed below.

Contour Swales

This is our most widely used technique to control surface water. A swale is a depression or ditch, dug perpendicularly, "on contour," to the slope using the excavated soil to create a berm down slope. Using this technique properly, we can capture water and hold it or move it to a desired location. Swales are sometimes built slightly off contour to promote the movement of water. Swales are planted to take advantage of the stored water and silt.

Berms

Berms are differentiated form swales by the lack of a ditch or depression. Berms are also used to move surface water to an area of storage or to disperse it across a slope. - We make berms from our native mulch, wood chips from thinning, brush from piñon or junipers, and soil.

Infiltration Basins

Infiltration basins are shallow planting depressions. They are used in the landscape to collect roof runoff, surface water, and greywater. They store it in the soil and increase infiltration. This can be used in flat yards as well as sloped yards capturing all surrounding runoff.

Stream beds

In larger landscapes with more surface water we sometimes need to move large amounts of water. We design natural streambeds with stones to move the surface water to farther points in the landscape. The streambed moves water from an area where it may cause damage to one where it can be utilized.

Sponges

A sponge is an organic material, often a straw bale, buried in the ground to absorb water and make it available to plants at their root zones. A full straw bale can hold up to 40 gallons of water. We also use this technique in our erosion control.

Boomerang Catchments

Boomerang catchments are berms on the down-slope of a planting that catch surface water and let it infiltrate into the soil at a plant’s root zone.

Mulch

We use our organic mulches to reduce evaporation, to stabilize slopes and bare soil, to suppress weeds and to amend the soil.

Active Rainwater Harvesting

“It’s not how much you get, it’s how much you get to keep.” Jim Brooks

An active rainwater harvesting system combines storage capacity with on-demand use. We build our cisterns out of a medium called Ferrocement. The cisterns are built on-site in a concrete foundation. They will not tip over and cannot be moved. Our tanks have an outlet valve to allow a hose to be used, an overflow pipe, drain, and an access point in the roof.

At Soilutions we provide two options for rainwater cisterns, large capacity, greater 1,000 gallons and small capacity, less than 1,000 gallons. To decide which capacity you want, you must consider a multitude of options. First, what purpose do you have for the water? Is it to irrigate a small urban landscape or a much larger one? Do you want to use the water for purposes other than irrigation? How much space do you have in your yard? How much roof space do you have? During our first site assessment, we can help you determine a tank to fit your needs.

What is Ferrocement?

Ferrocement tanks are constructed from a grid of steel-reinforced rebar covered with cement. The walls are 1.5 - 2 inches thick, curved, and incredibly strong. They are custom -built on-site and are the best method of building rainwater cisterns. Ferrocement tanks require low maintenance and have a long life span.

Large Capacity Cylinder

If you decide you want a large storage capacity cistern we can build a cylindrical cistern of 1,000 gallons up to +6,000 gallons. A 3,000 gallon tank will be about 5’6 feet tall on a diameter of about 10 feet. In New Mexico, we have prolonged periods of drought. A large capacity tank enables you to have water stored during these dry periods. You will also be prepared for the large surges of rainwater we experience during the monsoon season. You will be using a large percentage of your storage capacity during the monsoons. In the spring and early summer, when we do not receive rainfall very often, you will use the stored water. Therefore, you want large storage capacity in order to span those months without rainfall. A large capacity tank will be ideal if you are looking to irrigate a large landscape or using the rainwater for drinking or other purposes.

Tinaja™

If you have a small landscape or only want a small tank, we provide a 1,000-gallon tank called a Tinaja™. Many people complain of not wanting an “unsightly” plastic tank in their yard. We have designed a cistern that is aesthetically pleasing. We call them Tinaja’s™. In the shape of a clay jar, Tinaja’s™ store about 1,000 gallons and stand about 6’5 feet tall on a round 6-foot base. They are designed to be the focal point in your garden. Not only are they beautiful, they are functional. They are installed with an outlet valve that allows you to withdraw water into a 5-gallon bucket or attach a garden hose. We can also hook up either of our cisterns to a drip irrigation system, designed to sustainably irrigate a landscape. Tinaja’s™ can be painted any desired color, and provide a wonderful medium for artwork.

Advantages of Rainwater Harvesting

-Rainwater is relatively clean and available resource

-It’s free from the sky

-Collecting rainwater is sustainable and environmentally responsible

-It conserves ground water

-It results in less erosion and stormwater problems

-Rainwater is better for your plants than municipal or ground water that is high in salts

-It uses simple technologies that are easy to maintain

-Cost savings with rising water costs.

-It recharges our aquifer

-It assures that we will have water for years to come.

-Protects our river from runoff pollution

What we Offer

-Rainwater harvesting consultations. We can help you design your yard so that you harvest as much water as fits your needs.

-Designs of rainwater harvesting systems, i.e. earthworks.

-Installation of rainwater harvesting landscapes and cisterns.