Rain Harvest Help

Welcome

Capturing rainwater to irrigate your landscape or for other uses is becoming extremely popular in southeastern Arizona. One of the biggest obstacles for homeowners and business owners interested in rainwater harvesting is a lack of information.

How much water can I capture from my roof?

What’s the difference between passive and active harvesting?

How big should my cistern be?

Can I take water from off the street?

Where can I go to see examples of rainwater harvesting systems?

Are there workshops for do-it-yourself types?

What if I want someone to install a system for me?

This site attempts to answer those questions and others by providing basic information on rainwater harvesting, plus links and references to a variety of resources. These include demonstration sites, tours, workshops, web-based tools, pamphlets and books.

By early 2009, we will launch a web tool to give site-specific information on building a rainwater harvesting system. Users will input their address, amount and types of landscaping they want to irrigate with rainwater, and the amount and types of impervious surfaces (e.g., roofs, paved areas) from which they plan to harvest rain. The tool will estimate monthly plant needs and rainwater amounts, and calculate optimal storage capacity, based on your personal goals and constraints.

RainHarvestHelp was developed by the SAHRA Center at the University of Arizona, with support from the Bureau of Reclamation and in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and Biosphere 2.

Newly Eco-Friendly Visitor Center Holds Open House

At The University of Arizona, red and blue make green. The UA Visitor Center is a prominent example of how the University community is contributing to the green revolution, and center staff showcased the building’s eco-friendly features yesterday at an open house celebration.

Visitor Center Landscape and Water Harvesting Project: The collaborative efforts of students, Facilities staff, and faculty continued into the summer of 2006 with extensive work done on the UA Visitor Center, on the corner of University Boulevard and Euclid Ave. Roof gutters were installed to feed micro-basins and large cisterns. The cisterns are designed to irrigate native vegetation planted on the East side of the building. The cisterns will also provide water for a fruit tree. The landscape around the existing building was completely re-contoured, planted, and mulched in ways to take advantage of rain water harvesting. An area of landscape through which the parking lot drains is redesigned to slow and infiltrate the large volume of water that would otherwise end up on University Boulevard.