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Rainwater Harvesting and Collection with Water Features
Question: Is building a water feature into my rainwater harvesting system a good idea?
Answer: If you want a water feature – Yes.
Some in the pond industry are promoting the idea of using water features for rainwater harvesting. This is a good idea if you want a water feature and you are going to use rainwater to fill the water feature. However, if you are trying to use rainwater to water your landscape, adding a water feature will not help you conserve water because water features lose water to evaporation. It is better to store the water in a tank and then use drip irrigation to efficiently deliver the water to the plants that need water. This way the water will be used sparingly so the rainwater will last longer before it is used up. The challenge with using rainwater for irrigation is that when it rains you don’t need the water so you have to store it in order to use it when you need it. This is why it is very important to store the water as efficiently as possible and then use it as efficiently as possible.
A water feature can lose lots of water to evaporation especially if it has a waterfall attached to it. Just remember how long it takes for water to evaporate from puddles in a parking lot after it stops raining. It’s the same effect for a water feature. A lot of water is lost to evaporation so they have to be periodically refilled depending on how hot it is. This is why many water features have auto-fill devices. Using rainwater to refill the water feature is a good way to save water if you have a water feature, and a water feature is a good idea if you want a water feature, and rainwater harvesting is a good way to save water; but tying the two ideas together is not logical if your main goal is saving water.
A rain garden is different from a water feature. A water feature is built with a rubber liner or concrete so that it will keep the water from disappearing into the soil. A rain garden takes excess rainwater or storm water and disperses it into the landscape where it can be naturally absorbed into the soil. This makes sense. You are managing the water locally instead of sending it down the public storm system.
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