Rainwater Harvesting and Water Budget
Rainwater harvesting has been used for thousands of years. Today, homes from Australia to Hawaii rely on it for indoor and outdoor water supply. Arizona ranchers began collecting rainwater many decades ago. This is an ancient, well proven method of adding high quality water to the community water supply. It works very well in our area with only 12" of rainfall.
Rainwater is better for plants than tap water – no salts or chlorine! There are no legal barriers to the use of rainwater for landscape use.
Resources:
Harvesting Rainwater for Landscape Use (free booklet explaining active and passive rainwater harvesting)
Rainwater Harvesting Tips (illustrated article)
Rainwater Harvesting Slideshow (slides plus notes in 3/page format)
Native plant lists: Drought Tolerant Plant List and Yavapai County Plant Communities
Vendors: View a list of local vendors for drought-tolerant plants and rainwater harvesting systems.
City of Prescott Water Conservation page
City of Prescott Rainwater Harvesting Water Bill Credit also available for other water saving purchases (for City of Prescott water customers)
City of Prescott Rainwater Passive Harvesting (Rain Garden) Installation Guide and Water Bill Credit (for City of Prescott water customers)
City of Prescott Plant Booklet
Passive Rainwater Harvesting, pamplet from the Cooperative Extension Service
National Geographic article on Xeriscaping (using drought tolerant plants)
Water Budget Spreadsheet (Excel spreadsheet to estimate landscape water needs including effect of rainwater harvesting based on booklet "Harvesting Rainwater for Landscape Use")
Video: 2019-03-09 Native Plants and Rainwater Harvesting (With Jeff Schalau of the Cooperative Extension Service and Josh Crothers of Prescott Landscape Professionals)
Video: Barnabas Kane Explains Rainwater Harvesting (Landscape architect describes this water-saving technique)
Video: CWAG Drought-Tolerant Plant Workshop (Landscape architect Barnabas Kane presents a drought-tolerant landscaping workshop).
Video: Rainwater Harvesting and Drought Tolerant Plants (Video of CWAG field trip)
Video: The Rainwater Tank (Humerious account of DIY installation of 2500 gal tank).
More outdoor conservation resources