Hooray! Needed realizations are taking hold, maybe. Interesting, how Atlanta and Houston show the same number of acres developed, yet such a wide difference in runoff. Something about that looks wrong, especially since Houston gets more rain (I think - must research).

Georgia is basically the high ground of the watershed for the surrounding region. So that would seem a logical place for the highest priority effort to harness runoff. But continuing population growth everywhere seems inevitable, so the attendant water problems, no matter the development scheme, are only going to get worse, even if not as quickly.

Top-right article on front page of today's Houston Chronicle - Metropolitan section, Section A, Page 27 - follows the CBS article. The media blitz is in swing.

The Chronicle's graphic indicates 291,400 acres developed in Houston versus the 609,500 for Atlanta. The same numbers of "gallons lost" are reflected in the Chronicle and CBS articles. So that 609,500 acres number for Houston in the CBS graphic are more suspect.

And my research last night came up with one source that said Houston gets about 46" of rain per year while Atlanta gets about 51". Never would've guessed Atlanta gets more.

The Chronicle article cites estimates of "surface sealing" at 15 to 35 percent of land area, as bases for calculations of lower and upper numbers for water losses. For my neighborhood, I am convinced that at least 40 percent of the land is under pavements and rooftops.

So if I control 1/4 acre, then I should expect to have nearly 1 acre-foot of rainwater per year to collect and use on about 1/10 acre of "arable" ground. If I can stop even half the runoff, then I ought to have enough water from heaven alone to give myself the equivalent of 60 inches of rain per year! My math is probably a little sloppy there, but also is probably not sloppy enough to reject altogether, because this water business is at best an inexact science anyway.

Have you read this thread? Veeeerrrry interesting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rain Gardening