I've always recognized that rainwater catchment systems are a great green idea, paraticularly in our arid New Mexico climate, but I always thought of them as being useful just for the recycling effect, and for supplementing a "normal" water source such as a well or city water. Then my husband took a new listing on a great mountain property whose owner has a highly efficent rainwater catchment system that provides for all the household water needs!

I did a little more checking around, and found that an efficient rainwater catchment system really can do more than give you a little extra water for your landscaping! And it's an easy and readily available technology that we really should be implementing more here in the desert Southwest, where water is such a critical isue.