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| Our own rain tank being installed a couple of years ago. |
My sister brought me an article from the Dallas Morning News this weekend, and it got me to thinkin'. It was about a couple who decided it was time to let the world know how much they cared about the environment. They tore down their previous two-story 1940's residence there in North Dallas "to make way for a low lean Texas-modern design with a metal roof, exterior walls of stone and a sustainable, low-maintenance landscape plan." I have to give them credit for using mostly native plants and replacing their former water-thirsty lawn with one of zoysia grass, but it would have been much more admirable if they didn't still have everything hooked up to an automatic watering system - one that is not fed from that rain barrel right by their front door.
When the homeowners told their architect that they wanted rain barrels positioned around the house's exterior, he told them "Why don't we do something a little bigger, make a bigger statement that [water conservation] is important to you?" According to their architect, "a cistern can be buried underground or placed in a far less prominent position than one's front yard, but that wouldn't be as dramatic."
Just for comparison's sake, our barrel holds almost fifteen thousand gallons, and we are in danger of it going dry if we don't get some rain soon. The spiffy galvanized model they installed holds a little over fifteen hundred gallons. What do they use that water for? To bathe their dogs and top off their water feature near the front door. "It's like a piece of yard art, a piece of sculpture," says their architect, "and a lot of their neighbors have sculptures in their front yards."
Within hours of reading this article, my sisters and I drove past a house that managed to top even that Dallas couple. This family had taken their fancy galvanized tank, attached it to the front of their house, cut a doorway through it, and made it their entryway!
Dear Hubby says they're gonna be real sorry they cut a hole in it, when water prices follow gas prices right off the charts.
P.S. Don't tell couple number one, but Dear Daughter says "the greenest house is the one never built."
THE HOTTEST NEW THING: WATER BARRELS
Reviewed by juragan asem
Published :
Rating : 4.5
Published :
Rating : 4.5
