Harvesting natures bounty
Imagine with me for a moment... a walk in the forest during a rainstorm. The ground beneath your feet is wet and soft. You can hear the rain as it falls gently upon the trees above and slowly falls down to caress your cheek. The leaves and other debris on the ground soak up the newly fallen rain and the excess sinks slowly down through the layers of the forest floor. Some will move deep within the earth replenishing the groundwater. The rest runs downhill, gathering with other raindrops until a small stream forms. This stream feeds into ever-larger streams until it comes into a river. This is the way of water. It feeds, caresses, nurtures and as it moves through the many steps, it is cleaned providing fresh water to those below.
In the city, rain falls upon a roof and traces a trail down through gutters and into storm drains where it is returned directly to the river gathering pollution, oil and debris along the way. It's unnatural and it has no connection to the process rain would normally go through in nature. The end result is filthy water feeding our rivers.
Collecting rainwater in rain barrels and using it to water our gardens takes us one step closer to nature. Building a rain garden so the water filters naturally through the earth is another step closer to nature.