Amidst December storm, a lesson in rainwater harvesting
Lisa M. Krieger
San Jose Mercury News
12/12/2009
"It is a great way of taking care of yourself and being in charge of your own water," said San Jose-based landscape architect Sherri D. Osaka in a presentation sponsored by the Palo Alto-based Common Ground Education Center.
While harvesting rain saves precious water, it costs serious money. That's because water is now so cheap. The value of water in a 100-gallon barrel is about 29 cents, at current San Jose prices (748 gallons for $2.21). So you'll fill up the $150 barrel many times to break even. For now, harvesting — which required investing in tanks, filters, piping and other apparatus — is for those who can afford it.
Devotees say it's a lot like growing your own food. It creates self-sufficiency and puts you in touch with nature and the seasons. And they insist, that as the population grows, rain harvesting could be life-sustaining. If widely adopted, harvesting could replenish our aquifer, ease demand on storm sewers and reduce water drained from the Sierra Nevada and local reservoirs, said Osaka.
On what was a thoroughly soaked Saturday, rivulets rolled down the windows as the crowd swapped tales of flushing, filtering and flow rates.
This autumn has been wetter than last year, but remains near the historic average. A total of 4.03 inches have fallen in San Jose since July 1, compared to 1.25 inches by this date last year. But we're just a fraction above what would be considered average — and with 15 inches of average rainfall annually, we still have a long way to go.
The wettest place on Saturday was Ben Lomond, with 1.96 inches; Moffett Field, by comparison, only received about one-tenth of one inch.
More wet stuff
Showers are expected to continue today, with high temperatures reaching the mid-50s. Skies will start to dry by this evening, but the chance of rain will continue, with persistent clouds throughout the week.
With winter still a week away, its signs were on display nearly everywhere. Gusts of wind tore faded leaves from trees. Rainbows appeared, then vanished.
Atop Mount Hamilton, there was only fog.
"I can see to the edge of the parking lot, and that's about it," said Wendy Hansen of the observatory's gift shop. Most of last week's snow has melted, she added.
In Santa Cruz, waves were knee-to-shoulder high, too soft and inconsistent for good surfing. There's been a fading of last week's big swell, that broad and deep undulation of the ocean caused by a distant storm. But hopes are high for the arrival of a new one early next week.
Elephant seals are breeding at Ano Nuevo State Park, so the rookery is closed to all viewing until Monday; guided walks start next week.
Migratory birds like cedar waxwings are arriving at Stanford and brown pelicans are flying in to sites like the Palo Alto Flood Control Basin and the San Francisco Bay.
In the Sierra Nevada, snowfall was so steady that it forced the closure of the ice skating rink at Northstar ski lodge.
In the Los Angeles area, at least 40 homes were evacuated Saturday night in the La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta and Big Tujunga Canyon areas of the San Gabriel Mountains as heavy rain continues to bear down on the area burned by last summer's Station fire, prompting flash-flood warnings and sending minor mud and debris flows onto foothill roads, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Additionally, firefighters worked to rescue people from 90 vehicles stuck in the mud along a 12-mile stretch of Angeles Crest Highway near the burn area. The National Weather Service issued a flash-flood warning for the area.
Meanwhile, flooding has closed a three-mile stretch of southbound Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach until this morning.
