Great article, thanks.

Cool article!
Now, Rain Barrel's should be available to all home renters and owners at a discounted price. The nice huge ones. Not a little 50 gal drum.

Tropicalfreak

Great article, Ill! Thanks for sharing. I've printed it out and am passing it along to others. My neighborhood is filled with lush green lawns that aren't necessary, though the folks are pretty good about following the watering schedules as allowed. But it ain't enough! We are headed for serious problems ahead, I fear, throughout the entire state.

Marcia

Thanks for the info. Great article. I called the SFLWMD today because there was an article in my local paper regarding the district and rain barrels. To my surprise (insert sarcasim here) nobody knew about the article or rain barrels. Indian River county had a rain barrel workshop recently, was hoping Palm Beach would do the same.

It's amazinf that noone has linked the decline in rainfall to the destruction of trees in order to build thousands of houses.

That's interesting - thanks for posting it Ill-Mannered One. People just don't understand the ecology of Florida. The word is getting out. Maybe HOAs will come to their senses soon...

It's amazing how little water my garden needs. And it's tons prettier than grass. The garden in the back gets absolutely no supplimental watering. I do long for a water reclamation system. Ah, the fantasies of gardeners... piles of poo and leaves, and the satisfaction of reusing gray water.

I missed the rainbarrel workshop this weekend at Biosphere. I found out too late. But I'm sure I could find instructions online...

Big part of the problem is FL builders and landscapers. If some LL or Slash pine was left on the properties, homeowners could plan some interesting landscape which would be more drought tolerant.

Buiders want expediency and landscapers want to drop in lawns.

Alex, you forgot to mention big bucks for the sod.

Good article, but I hate to see someone saying something bad about my beloved Fl, even if it's true. :O)

I found this interesting link about a Florida demo house using rainwater (built in cistern) to provide the home's water system.
An old-fashioned idea that's new again. I'm going to try and visit it sometime soon.

http://www.harvesth2o.com/floridahouse.shtml

Here is a link that might be useful: Home with rainwater collection system

This weekend my Fiance and I attended a rain barrel seminar that was put on by the city of Winter Garden. They showed us how to make them. Then we made them and were able to buy them for $30 each. We were very happy to have attended. Those were my first two. This weekend I will install four more!!

That's why I converted most of my lawn into Dune Sunflower, Sensitive plant, Gaillardia, lantana and purslane...boy did it look good when the rest of the neighborhood was brown!

One can only hope and pray a Politician or two will wake up and realize what "really" matters and start helping to educate the public (Floridians) about saving our state.

But hey, most of them just want green to line their pockets and that's the bottom line of what matters to them.

Someone could make up a letter. Everyone prints and signs on their own and mails to local representative and to Governor and anyone else with "clout". Mailing individually would make more of a impact and keep the issue fresh as the letters keep rolling in.

There is enough of us here that we could get people to take notice. Newspaper articles should be written News stories should be done. The veil should be lifted and reality laid out.

Heck, we could even make a iron-on for t-shirts. You can buy kits now to make your own on computer and print out. "Rain Barrels For Florida",
"AntiSod", "Conserve Water for Life" , "Gardener's Against Thirsty Lawns" , "Water Police", "Recycler's For Life", "Compost For Peace" "Newly Endangered: Florida" , "Florida: The Next Dust Bowl" ...and I'm sure you could come up with lots more.

Tropcialfreak