May 19th, 2008 · No Comments

One agricultural client of Whitfield’s, Clark Aristei of Escondido, Calif., is in the process of installing tanks to service his avocado groves because farmers in the area have been told to cut back their water use by 30 percent because of drought and restricted and dwindling water supplies. “Rainwater is critical right now…So rainwater catchment is a wonderful thing,” said Aristei, a lawyer who has installed collection tanks around his house for irrigation, but is still working out a system that will collect water and pump it to the trees on the ranch he and his wife Caro own in arid San Diego County .

But even if a client installs a 1,000 gallon tank – and captures what sounds like a lot of rainwater — it probably won’t be enough to keep even an average size Texas lawn fed through the whole summer season, Whitfield says.

That’s why many homeowners also take steps at the time of construction or remodeling to minimize their water needs. Many people, like the Fladmarks, xeriscape part of their outdoor environment by using native plants or turf like Buffalo grass instead of water-needy Bermuda or St. Augustine, says Whitfield, an engineer who started his rainwater collection five years ago.

Then too, homeowners will need to balance their water needs against their available cash.
A simple recycled plastic rain barrel will get a homeowner started in rain collection for as little as $75, but a large rainwater harvesting system can run $10,000 up to $30,000, or in the range of the cost of a swimming pool, Whitfield says.

That outlay can take a long time to recoup; but as a green move, practicing some sort of water catchment is indisputably eco-friendly and that motivates many customers as much, if not more, as the desire to be self-sufficient in the water department.

It was the motivator for Grimes, a mediator, and Lord, who runs LORD Green Real Estate Strategies, which helps existing properties become more eco-friendly. The 300-gallon cisterns that they had installed are adequately sized without being obtrusive, says Grimes. They cost just under $500 each and blend in nicely under the eaves.

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