Simple ideas keep rainwater at home

Don Titmus has the power to make water flow uphill. Using a system called a French drain (a plastic tube with holes in the top dug into a gravel-filled trench and covered with soil), he can take rainwater that falls into the lowest portions of his yard and move it to trees and shrubs at the highest points.

Don Titmus has the power to make water flow uphill.

Using a system called a French drain (a plastic tube with holes in the top dug into a gravel-filled trench and covered with soil), he can take rainwater that falls into the lowest portions of his yard and move it to trees and shrubs at the highest points.

Not only can he control the flow of water on the property of his ranch-style home in central Mesa, he wants to teach other people to do it, too.

“It’s simple, really. I try to make it as user-friendly as possible,” he says. “The basic idea is, the more water I can keep on my property, the less I have to use out of the tap. We live in a desert. Water really is a resource we must conserve.”

Titmus is director of Four Directions Permaculture in the East Valley. Permaculture is a term coined in 1974 by Bill Mollison and his student David Holmgren, which is a combination of the words permanent and agriculture. It means sustainability of all things — each dependent on the other, he says. Smart use of water is an important part of permaculture, so Titmus takes every opportunity to show people ways they can make better use of water at their homes.

The major flaw of subdivision construction in the East Valley, according to Titmus, is that many local ordinances require lawns to be graded so that all storm water runs into the street.

“In the streets, it picks up all the pesticides, herbicides, dirt and debris. That’s expensive to treat when it gets to treatment plants,” he says. “Instead of dealing with water at the end, let’s go back to the beginning. Let’s use it before it ever gets to the treatment plant.”

According to the principles of rainwater harvesting, the first place you want to store rainwater is in the soil, where trees and other plants can use it.

So in Titmus’ yard, basins are created around trees. Shrubs and other plants are then planted within that basin.

Next, you want to catch and store any additional water to be used when you need it.

He can store as much rainwater as the sky will yield using a homemade system of gutters and plastic barrels.

The average homeowner can start with just a bucket or two placed near the outside of the house to catch the water that runs off. Check with your homeowners association, he warns, but most will allow buckets and barrels as long as they’re screened from neighbors’ views.

Titmus still has an irrigation system, and he still hand-waters all his potted plants, but he has to use it a lot less because he makes the most of the rain we get in the Valley.

According to the rain gauge he has on his house, he’s already received 13 inches of rain this year, and he has not wasted a single drop of it.