The two 550 gallon tanks that we dropped in LA this past weekend waiting to get in the game. Thursday they will be installed by the @greywatercorps lads and enter into action catching rainwater that will support a small orchard garden in a sustainably designed system in the heart of Los Angles. Technically, they could be around for a looong time doing just that service–storing rain that falls on the site that will be used, on site, to grow food and other yields, infiltrating the on site soil and helping to recharge the water table and build soil richness by virtue of not running off the site. Overflow from these tanks during larger storm events will also be directed via earthworks to the same end. In that sense tanks can play a key role in the management of ‘on site water’ -the only TRUE source any given site has. Municipal supply is a wonder of our modern superhero-style-applied-science-Greco-Roman culture that we all don’t realize how immersed and dependent upon we are; but in most cases, it’s a very frail lifeline, and no where else is that better portrayed than in SoCal where most of the municipal water is imported and then flushed away to be treated by yet more heavy handed and miserably frail infrastructure–for millions of people! Beginning small and building in some on site infrastructure in this case is indeed an act of proper care for life to be sure; but it’s also an act of revolution and, along with that, preparedness for the uncertain times ahead.
