Why rainwater harvesting should be a way of life!

It’s hardly necessary nowadays to remind people about the vital importance of saving water wherever possible. Water is one of our most precious resources.  In recent times, between suffering droughts in many parts of the country, load shedding for long periods which played havoc with normal water supply systems, and some City Council’s inadequacy to supply sufficient water to households, the importance of regular water supply has become more apparent than ever.

What are some solutions?

As with solving the electricity supply situation, it takes a concerted effort on the public's behalf to improve it.  So, just as we had to start using generators and setting up solar systems to harness the energy of the sun, we can also set up systems to conserve and harness the rainwater running onto our properties whenever blessed with it.

Water saving ways

Just as the people of Cape Town, facing Day Zero a few years ago, bandied together to find innovative ways to save water, we all need to be aware of water saving in good times or bad. The most important thing is to save water wherever possible and one of the best ways to do this is to capture or repurpose rainwater.

The rainwater harvesting solution

Rainwater harvesting, therefore, should become as much a way of life as remembering to switch off the lights to save energy.  Particularly for those who have gardens to water or pools to fill (an absolute no-go when it comes to dry seasons) the saving of rainwater is the best way to go.  Rainwater harvesting also relieves pressure on the dams that provide water for our cities.

And conserving and using rainwater also saves money, especially with the ever-rising cost of municipal water!

What is rainwater harvesting?

Rainwater Harvesting is essentially the collection and storage of rainwater runoff. This could be rainwater running off rooftops, parks, roads, open grounds, etc. This water runoff can then be stored and used later when needed. Rainwater harvesting systems, therefore generally consist of the following components:

• A catchment area from where water is captured. For households or housing estates, this is generally the rooves and paved areas. ;
• A conveyance system that carries the water that has been harvested from the catchment area to the storage area. This includes the downspouts and underground pipes.  The water is conveyed either by gravity or with help of a pump.
• A ‘first flush’, such as a sieve on downspouts, is used to flush out the grit from the first rains, and a filter is used to remove pollutants from the water…
• …and finally, the storage area which can either be above ground storage tanks or underground cisterns.

Why Rainwater Harvesting?

So, why do we do it? Well, we have to remember that rainwater in the future may be one of the only sources of clean water available to us.  Rainwater harvesting systems follow the principle of catching and conserving this clean water as and when it falls.

With climate change, we are told that rain will fall less frequently, but in stronger amounts.  This means, we cannot rely on a steady supply of rainwater to water our gardens, as we could in much of South Africa in the past.  One downfall of 50mm of rain could fill 12,000 litres of storage tanks if caught correctly from a home catchment area.  This water can then be used to water the garden for the following days and even weeks.

This leads to a big saving in your water bills!

Rainwater harvesting also has the benefits of assisting us to meet an ever-increasing demand for water and reducing the risk of flooding.

The Garden specialists with sustainable solutions

All of us who own gardens can contribute to the planet's ecology and, of course, have an obligation to protect it in whatever way we can. At Windy Willows Wholesale Nursery we have always taken great pride in devising ways to support sustainability initiatives.

We help our valued customers save money on water so that, even in difficult times, they can continue to maintain their beautiful Gardens. Rainwater Harvesting and Water backup solutions are just two of our specialities and we would love to share what we know and help to implement these on your property.

Come and visit our Nursery in Honeydew to purchase the finest plants and trees to suit your garden, or contact us for all the advice you need on Landscaping, Irrigation and water-wise initiatives. Working together, we can all retain beautiful gardens whilst contributing to the well-being of our precious planet!

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