Catching the Rain

This year we have had two very successful water projects. First, we had the Emergency Water tanks when the well pump was offline. More recently came the installation of the Rain Catchment System by Sage Hill Landscapes.

 

As you may or may not recall, last January our irrigation pump at SOREC was shut off due to the low water table. But we had a challenge. We needed to continue to water our newly propagated plants and seedlings. A few of us got together and located small 250-gallon (caged) tanks at a very reasonable price. We applied for a grant from the Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District (https://www.jswcd.org)  and received a reimbursement grant. It was valuated at $1/gallon. In this case, it meant a maximum of $2,500 in total reimbursement. We were reimbursed for the entire amount of the emergency water system we created to irrigate the propagation underway in Greenhouse #2.                                           

 

 

The other project was to install a permanent Rain Catchment System so we would not need to pay for emergency water if that was needed. The project also served to demonstrate how a rain catchment system works and how easy it is to implement on nearly any home, farm or ranch.

  Photo by Sean Cawley  Cage Tanks Emergency Water Project

In fact, the Rain Catchment Project was ongoing when we encountered the emergency water need. We received a very favorable bid from Sage Hill Landscapes. They even donated one of the holding tanks to help us out in our pricing.

 

We again applied for a grant from Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District and obtained approval for a reimbursement grant with a maximum payout equivalent to the amount of water we would collect. In the case of our system, it was 5,000 gallons and therefore a maximum grant of $5,000. However, there were some challenges and JSWCD’s request list was long. We only received $2,500 in reimbursable grant funds. Thanks to a GoFundMe project that Lynn Kunstman initiated, we received nearly $10,000 in contributions.

We still have to pay for signage for the Rain Catchment System. We have not yet received estimated costs for the signage. The estimate for our total costs for the Rain Catchment System will be in the neighborhood of $2,500. That’s not too bad for a system that costs more than $14,000 overall.

Photo by Sean Cawely   Rain Catchment Tanks

 

Thanks need to go to the Water Committee: Lynn Kunstman and Susan Koening without whose assistance these projects would not have happened.