The Coastal Gardener:

A few days ago it rained. I’m sure you noticed it. Rain fell on your roof, ran into your gutter, traveled to the end of the gutter and ran down the downspout. Hundreds of gallons of water traveled this path.

Through some clever engineering, your downspout sent this water directly to the street, where it mixed with hundreds more gallons, then fell into the city’s storm drain. A while later this rainwater, initially pure and clean, rushed into the Pacific Ocean. But by the time it got to the ocean, it wasn’t pure and clean anymore.

Water conservation and watershed protection is now a responsibility for gardeners and environmentally conscious homeowners. Last week in The Coastal Gardener we talked about ways a home gardener can allow more water to percolate into the soil, thereby cleansing it of pollutants, as well as recharging Orange County’s huge underground aquifer.

We discussed exchanging hard non-porous surfaces with permeable alternatives like decomposed granite, gravel or new-generation porous hardscapes. Alternatively, we suggested breaking up solid concrete walks, separating the pieces a few inches, planting the interim areas and allowing water to pass through and into the soil below. We mentioned swales to slow water down and allow it to infiltrate the ground.

We even questioned if the underlying conviction of moving rainwater off our property as quickly and efficiently as possible was a worthy goal.

In addition to allowing rainwater to permeate into the ground, home gardeners in Orange County are now beginning to “harvest” water as well. In many parts of the country rainwater harvesting is one of the fastest growing techniques of home water conservation. Harvesting rainwater simply means collecting it, storing it temporarily, then reusing it at a later time.

The easiest and most practical way of harvesting rainwater is to collect the water that runs through your rain gutter downspouts. Diverting this water into a storage device, called a rain barrel, instead of into a storm drain, is simple. Almost anyone can set up a couple of rain barrels in an afternoon, and they’ll be filled with water once the next storm arrives.

A rain barrel, made just for this purpose, is usually placed on some bricks or concrete blocks near the downspout of your roof gutter. A diverter is attached to the downspout, which allows you to send the water into the barrel or bypass if it is full. That’s it. Free water.