#rainwater — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #rainwater, aggregated by home.social.
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Or one could #DIY... I keep one of my rainbarrels on a platform, and it helps with water flow!
Best Stands for #RainBarrels to Maximize #WaterHarvesting
Post published:February 13, 2026
"Raising a rain barrel off the ground improves access to the spigot, enhances drainage, and protects the barrel from damp ground. This guide highlights reliable stands designed for 45, 50, and 55-gallon barrels, focusing on durability, load capacity, and weather resistance. The selections below draw from top-rated options that balance robustness with practical design, helping you choose a stand that fits your weather, terrain, and watering needs."
Learn more (Contains affiliate links):
https://theyogicgarden.com/best-stand-for-rain-barrel/#SolarPunkSunday #WaterHarvesters #RainwaterCollection #RainwaterHarvesting #WaterCollection #Gardening #Rainwater #WaterIsLife
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So, before I start posting about #RainwaterCollection and #RainwaterHarvesting, I wanted to point out that while collecting rainwater is legal in most countries (though there can be local restrictions/regulations), there are some states in the #UnitedStates that restrict or prohibit #Rainwater collection.
Can You Go To Jail for Collecting Rainwater?
By Kiersten Hickman
Updated on Nov. 24, 2023It's fine in most states, but some have stricter rules!
"While most states permit rainwater harvesting and some even encourage it, other states have specific rules and regulations around the topic. These states specify the uses of the water. For example, if the water can be collected for “non-potable” purposes, it means the water is not suitable for drinking but can be used for other things. Potable means it’s safe for drinking, cooking and bathing.
Here are a few with specific rules governing rainwater harvesting.
- #Alaska (rainwater okay, but groundwater is regulated)
- #Arkansas (legal with some regulation)
- #California (legal unless using it for landscaping)
- #Colorado (limited to 110 gallons per day)
- #Illinois (legal with some regulation)
- #Kansas (#WaterRights required, except for domestic use)
- #Louisiana (#cisterns must have covers)
- #Nevada (used to be illegal, but is legal with some restrictions
- #NorthCarolina (regulated)
- #Ohio (regulated for drinking)
- #Oregon (no longer illegal)
- #Texas (regulated)
- #Utah (rules about amounts)
- #WashingtonState (strict rules)Learn more:
https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/collecting-rain-water-in-these-states-could-be-illegal/More about the status of individual states:
https://4perfectwater.com/blog/rainwater-harvesting-laws#SolarPunkSunday #WaterIsLife #WaterCollection #UnitedStates
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Could This #Arizona Ranch Be a Model for #Southwest Farmers?
Oatman Flats has undergone a dramatic transformation, becoming the Southwest’s first #Regenerative #Organic Certified farm and a potential source of ideas for weathering #ClimateChange.
" 'We embraced the abundance of #heirloom and native crops in the #SonoranDesert,' Hansen said. 'We are looking at the land and asking it what we should grow, rather than asking the land to grow what we want.' " - Dax Hansen, owner of Oatman Flats Ranch.
By Samuel Gilbert
May 12, 2025Excerpt: "Regeneration Rooted in #Indigenous Practices
"Southern Arizona’s rich agricultural history stretches back more than 5,000 years. By 600 CE, the Hohokam people were constructing North America’s largest and most elaborate irrigation systems along the Salt and Gila Rivers. The descendants of the Hohokam—the Pima and Tohono O’odham—continued to farm the land up to and after the arrival of the Spanish, who began to colonize southern Arizona in the 1600s. They continue to farm in Arizona today.
"At the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation, about two hours southeast of Oatman Flats, the San Xavier Co-op Farm uses historic land management practices and grows traditional crops that reflect their respect for the land, plants, animals, elders, and the sacredness of water.
"San Xavier Farm Manager Duran Andrews and his team plant #CoverCrops, rotate fields, and collect #rainwater.
" '[Regenerative agriculture] is nothing new to us,' Andrews said. 'We have been doing this for decades. Harmony between nature and people has been our approach all the time.' Rotating fields and cultivating multiple mutually beneficial species in the same fields improves water and soil quality and biodiversity in this harsh landscape.
" 'You’ve seen what the land looks like in five years; imagine it in 10. If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere.'
"The co-op grows a variety of native crops that were developed in the region and cultivated for centuries or, in some cases, millennia, such as grains and beans, which they sell online. 'We irrigate them till they sprout, then cut them off till the monsoon shows up,' Andrews said. 'We try to keep crops in that hardy state through all the years and decades they have been here. We try not to get away from how things were done in the past.'
"They also grow White Sonora wheat, introduced to Arizona by Spanish Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s. 'It was a gift from Father Kino that we have taken as our own,' Andrews said. 'The [San Xavier] community was one of the first to grow this wheat.'
"Following the Mexican-American War in the mid-1800s, the United States claimed parts of modern-day Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, and Utah. The Anglo ranchers who moved into the area dug canals to irrigate agricultural fields, transforming the landscape. An 1852 watercolor by surveyor Jon Russell Bartlett depicts a verdant valley with cottonwoods and mesquite trees lining a flowing Gila River as it passes through Oatman Flats Ranch.
"That landscape is unrecognizable today. The lower Gila has gone bone dry after years of upstream diversions, dams, water overuse, and climate change. In 2019, the Gila River earned the title of Most Endangered River by the nonprofit advocacy group American Rivers.
"Standing on the sandy Gila riverbed, which divides the north and south farms of Oatman Flats Ranch, Wang pointed to the nearby invasive salt cedars. Healing the land involves rebuilding the water, nutrient, and carbon cycles from the ground up, 'at the micro level,' he said. 'On the macro level, it’s broken.'
"The ranch team has poured resources into rebuilding soil health by planting #hedgerows and 30-plus species of cover crops, at a cost of approximately $100,000. The hedgerows, mostly native trees, were planted along the edges of the fields to reduce erosion and provide habitat for beneficial species, including #pollinators such as #bees and #hummingbirds.
"The cover crops — #millet, #chickpeas, #sunflowers, #sorghum, sudan grass, broadleaves, and #NativeGrasses among them—are planted immediately after harvesting wheat, to provide 'soil armor,' help conserve water, fix nitrogen in the soil, suppress weeds, attract beneficial insects, and sequester carbon. The once-barren land now supports life for more than 120 species of flora and fauna."
Read more:
https://civileats.com/2025/05/12/could-this-arizona-ranch-be-a-model-for-southwest-farmers/#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeAgriculture #RegenerativeFarming #RestorativeAgriculture #ClimateChangeFarming
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Scientists Are Warning of A Brand-New Kind of #AcidRain
Story by Darren Orf
Key points:
- While acid rain caused by sulfur dioxide is an environmental threat of the past (at least, for now), a new kind of acid is proliferating in rain water—as well as groundwater, ice cores, and even human blood.
- #TrifluoroaceticAcid (#TFA) is a subclass of “#ForeverChemical” that’s been steadily increasing in concentrations around the world.
- With calls to consider this rise in TFA a planetary threat, some governments are starting ban chemicals linked to TFA—but the threat will require global cooperation."Acid rain may have a sequel, and like most sequels, it’s arguably worse.
"While the world’s first bout of acid rain (at least, in modern times) came from increased concentrations of sulfuric acid produced largely from coal plants, this new #anthropogenic source is possibly more pervasive, more persistent, and more sinister. Its name is Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a kind of 'forever chemical' that, for decades, has been steadily increasing in #RainWater—but not just rain water.
"Countries around the world have found increasing concentrations in #groundwater, #ArcticIceCores, #wine, and even #HumanBlood. In fact, TFA is likely the most pervasive form of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl (#PFAS)—technically, a subclass known as ultrashort-chain perfluoroalkyl acid (#PFAA)—on Earth due in part to the fact that longer-chain PFAS degrade into TFA via #incinerators or #SewageTreatment plants. They’re also used in #refrigerants instead of #chlorofluorocarbons and #hydrochlorofluorocarbons, which were famously known to deplete the Earth’s #OzoneLayer.
"In October of 2024, a team of European environmental scientists raised the TFA alarm, stating that a rise in concentration could be considered a threat to '#PlanetaryBoundaries' — a system designed to make sure the planet remains #habitable for human life (which we are doing a real bang-up job at following).
" 'Since the 1990s, it has been suggested that hazard-related concerns of TFA and other short-chain PFAAs are much lower than those of PFAAs with longer perfluoroalkyl chains, which are more #bioaccumulative and generally more #toxic,' the authors wrote back in October. 'However, these early reports did not consider TFA’s ubiquitous accumulation in the environment, in particular its observed accumulation in water resources and #bioaccumulation in various plants, including crops.'
"One of the most dangerous things about PFAAs is what we don’t know about them. Unlike other PFAS (of which there are, sadly, thousands of different kinds), TFA is so small (a.k.a. ultrashort) that it’s water-soluble, meaning it likely passes through the human body pretty quickly. A new Nature article reports that some scientists find this evidence compelling enough to not even consider TFA a kind of PFAS, but a growing chorus of voices are raising concerns that increased concentrations of TFA in water and food sources could render TFA’s fast-moving nature a moot point.
"In fact, TFA’s water-solubility could be a long-term headache. If scientists and governments eventually decide that TFA does need to be removed from drinking water and other sources, current filtration technologies are not up to the task. In other words, ridding the world of TFA will not only be immensely difficult, it’ll also be incredibly expensive. Current regulations to eliminate certain forms of PFAS are already proving to be fiscally onerous.
"Thankfully, some governments are taking action. #Denmark, for example, banned 23 substances earlier this month known to contain PFAS that contribute to rising TFA concentrations. Meanwhile, the #US is lagging behind—the Environmental Protection Agency [#EPA] doesn’t even define TFA as a 'forever chemical,' much to the dismay of #environmentalist groups and to the merriment of many #industry leaders.
"Rising concentrations of TFA is the acid rain sequel no one wanted. But just like every terrible sequel ever made, it seems like we’re getting it anyway."
#WaterIsLife #Dupont #DowChemical #3M #ForeverChemicals #EPACuts #Deregulation #TrumpSucks #USPol #WorldPol #Environment #EnvironmentalDamage #GenXChemicals #3MLied
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#MonroeCountyMI - Got a library card? You can check-out a free #GardenPlot in Monroe
by Susan Nolan Wisler, March 23, 2025
MONROE COUNTY — "Now that it's spring, it’s time to reserve your community garden plot. Monroe County has several options, including some plots that can be checked-out free with a library card.
Monroe County Library System
"'The #BedfordBranchLibrary and the #BlueBushBranchLibrary both have garden plots that patrons can utilize. It is very similar to borrowing a book, but you 'check-out' a garden plot for the whole growing season. You can find them in our online catalog,' said Barbra Krueger, who works in community outreach for the Monroe County Library System.
"The Bedford Branch, 8575 Jackman Road in #TemperanceMI, has 10 garden beds; four are still available. The Blue Bush Branch, 2210 Blue Bush Road in #MonroeMI, has four beds that are all still available.
[...]
"Today, Blue Bush offers gardeners use of #rainwater collection barrels, a #CompostBin and a #GardenShed, which was purchased by the Friends of the Frenchtown Area Library. Inside the shed are gloves, rakes, hoes and trowels. Blue Bush also has a #SeedLibrary."
Learn more:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/local/2025/03/23/community-garden-plots-raised-beds-monroe-county-library-system-munson-park-st-mary-organic-garden/82563173007/
#Michigan #SolarPunkSunday #BuildingCommunity #CommunityGardens #FoodSecurity #LibrariesRule ! -
‘#ForeverChemicals’ – the part of cleaning you don’t want to last
"Notable categories of cleaners that either may contain, or have historically contained, PFAS are:
- glass and hard surface cleaners
- fabric, upholstery, and #CarpetCleaners and treatments
- #waxes and polishes for #floors, #furniture, #cars and #boat vessels
- dishwashing rinse aids
- #AerosolPropellant-based #cleaners and #AirFresheners
- #paints and #coatings."Floor sealers and finishes – products that cure into a film once applied – often contain PFAS. During floor stripping and waxing, PFAS concentrations in dust and air particulate matter were one order of magnitude greater than typical residential indoor air and two orders of magnitude greater than outdoor air, according to a 2022 study.
"But now the cleaning products #Industry wants to keep consumers in the dark about the use of these chemicals in their brands. Earlier this month, a bill was introduced in Congress on behalf of leading household cleaning product makers that would deny Americans the right to know about #ToxicChemicals in cleaning products.
"The manufacturer #Reckitt applauded Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) for introducing the bill, which would rob consumers of crucial information about the ingredients in their products. Reckitt makes popular household brands like #Lysol, #Woolite, #AirWick, #Vanish, #Calgon, among many others.
And industry giant #SCJohnson
called for a 'clear federal standard' on disclosing ingredients, knowing any such standard could take a decade or longer. The company manufactures #Glade, #Drano, #Pledge, #ScrubbingBubbles, #Shout and #Windex, along with many other products, including #Ziploc."Read more:
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2023/10/forever-chemicals-part-cleaning-you-dont-want-last#PFAS #PFOS #WaterIsLife #WaterPollution #PFASPollution #PFOA #PTFE #Wildlife #Cancer #Contamination #Chemicals #Environment #FoodPackaging #Plastics #FireFightingFoam #Firefighters #Health #Mining #Lubricants #Electronics #Cosmetics #PFNA #PFHxS #PFB #GenXChemicals
#Toxic #DowChemical #DuPont #3M #BASF #Teflon #RainWater #DrinkingWater