Victoria County Master Gardener Association Members Are Promoting Rainwater Harvesting

PHOTOS COURTESY:  SANDY KNIEF, VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER

Glen and Kathy Chilek, VCMGA Class of 2007, got involved with Rainwater Harvesting while interns.  They were asked to research purchasing collection tanks for the Victoria Educational Gardens and have been completely sold on the concept of rainwater harvesting. Here Glen Chilek is supervising the placement of a 1500 gallon tank on the south side of VEG. During their studies they have attended several seminars to gain knowledge.  They also wrote an article, "Back To The Future--Our Grandparents Had The Right Idea About Saving Rain" to share information with the community in The Victoria Advocate Gardeners' Dirt column. The members of VCMGA got enthused and Glen ordered and distributed 45 collection barrels for members to get started with their own rainwater harvesting.

All Rainwater Is Valuable... RAIN WATER IS A GREAT SOURCE OF WATER: It is one of the purest sources of water available. It has low nitrogen content for a slight fertilizing of plants. It's free of salts and other minerals. It is soft, so it can lower the quantity of detergents needed. Pipes and hot water heaters are free of deposits when rain water is used. ENVIRONMENTAL ADVANTAGES: Collecting rainwater promotes self sufficiency. Collecting fosters an appreciation for rainwater as a resource. It promotes water conservation. It provides a new source of water. Local erosion is reduced. There is less polluted storm water to manage. RAINWATER HARVESTING SYSTEMS: Simple landscaping plans that distribute water slowly as rain falls or a passive collection system Complex systems of collecting rainwater and later distributing it.

COME OUT TO VEG AND SEE THE RAINWATER HARVESTING SYSTEMS INSTALLED

PHOTOS BY GLEN CHILEK This is one of two rainwater harvest collection storage containers installed at Victoria Educational Gardens to hold rainwater from the roof of the Officer's Club building. The Victoria County Groundwater District awarded grant monies to the Victoria Master Gardener Association for this system

PHOTOS BY PAT PLOWMAN The gutters on the Children's Garden side of the Officer's Club were installed and hooked up to the rainwater collection barrel.  The collected rainwater is hooked up to a system to provide water to the water feature in the Children's Garden.  Also a hose can be connected to it for watering the landscape.

PHOTO BY KATHY CHILEK, VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER Glen Chilek acquired  these barrels  to be used personally by Victoria County Master Gardeners as rainwater collection barrels..  Pictured on the  left is Glen with Cliff Knezek, Lupe Cook, Linda Valdez, and Roy Cook who gathered to help distribute the barrels to VCMGA members.

The Chileks at Rainwater Harvesting School.

Kathy Chilek at Rainwater Harvesting School surrounded by the concrete basins with copper drippers which were made for wildlife waterers (birds, butterflies, small animals). They can run off a garbage can/rainwater barrel with a plastic connecting tube just on gravity feed.

This photo at Rainwater Harvesting School shows a unique perforated pipe which was buried under the drip line of the Menard library roof. It collects rainwater via downspout from the guttered roof, then slowly seeps the water into a rock garden with plants installed around the pipe.

FOR MORE INFORMATION HERE ARE SOME LINKS TO CLICK ON! http://www.rainwatercollection.com/ http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/home/index.asp http://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.edu/ http://texaswater.tamu.edu/conservation.rainwater.html

This pdf Manual on Rainwater Harvesting from the Texas Water Development Board comes highly recommended: http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/RainwaterHarvestingManual_3rdedition.pdf Also at the AgriLIFE Bookstore, find matererials on conserving water and harvesting rainwater: --  Harvesting Rainwater Pamphlet -- --  Harvesting Rainwater For Wildlife -- --  Rainwater Harvesting::  Landscape Methods -- --  Rainwater Harvesting:  Livestock --

This link will download a super powerpoint presentation about Rainwater Harvesting by Billy Kniffen, Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources for Menard County and one of the state's top experts.  It took me less than 5 minutes to download and it is 12:00+ minutes long.  Better if you right-click and opne in a new window!!  ;) --  http://agfacts.tamu.edu/~jsorelle/harvest300/Default.htm --