'When life gives you lemons, make Lemonade,' When life gives you drought make it better with art

That is what Lisa Arceneaux, an environmental engineer in San Marcos Texas thought about adding a rainwater collection cistern to a spot in her yard where no bushes would grow, and the rain off the house splattered mud on the walls.

The City of San Marcos Public Services Conservation Program provides rebates to individuals and businesses for installing rain water capture cisterns. The program coordinator, Jan Klein, helped Lisa find the simple application form and encouraged the install of the cistern. She was especially excited to hear that artwork would also be incorporated, although this component is not currently covered by the program.

A cistern size of 500-gallons was ample for collecting the small amount of rooftop that drained into the troublesome corner, and it fit well within the space and the budget. The rooftop drainage area was about 200 ft2 and the tank filled easily with a 2-inch rain, or accumulation of multiple smaller rains. Only a small por- tion of the roof was used for the collection effort… larger volumes would be realized with more roof surface captured.

PROCESS

The San Marcos Convention and Visitors Bureau was already beautifying electric boxes in town with colorful art-inspired wraps, a tightly adhering heavy duty vinyl film installed by the local graphic art company, Lucky Sky Graphics. This idea was then applied to the cistern. Lisa had an idea in mind for the art work that would be a collection of the native flowers in her beds, a beautiful blue sky, butterflies, sunbeams and her great aunt’s metal watering can. With the help of her son Mateo Arceneaux, a degreed artist who draws on commission, the wrap art was created digitally and sent electronically to Lucky Sky to print and install.

The cistern was a smooth plastic tank with no texture as advised by Lucky Sky for optimal wrap adhesion. It was purchased in Dripping Springs and installed by a local Wimberley company, Blue Green Water and Land. Smooth metal tanks or corrugated metal tanks with a smooth wrap surface added around a portion of the tank could also be used.

DROUGHT

With the current drought not expected to improve over the next foreseeable future, and the demand on drinking water from increasing population to our area, capturing rainwater is a very good solution to keep plant life alive around your home. Native flowering shrubs that attract pollinators and butterflies provide stacked benefits. Lisa has a collection of native grasses, salvia, butterfly weed, purple mist flower, firebush, turks cap and several others.

It's important to use the collected water as much as possible before the next rain, so the tank is ready to capture another fresh supply. Having a full tank that overflows due to not using the water misses the point of capturing it. It’s best to “drain the tank” on your plants and lawn as much as possible, being mindful for when the next rain event is coming up.

SCALE UP

Lisa hopes that large industries coming to town will use this concept to capture large rooftop areas and reuse the water for irrigating native, drought-tolerant plants as their landscape. The messages of sustainability, the company’s vision, logo, and even the amount of water captured per one inch rain can be added to the wrap to provide beauty and show sensitivity to our water supply. The City’s rebate program is available for individuals and businesses in San Marcos and local artists abound in this area for inspiration.