Water

One of the purposes of this garden is to capture and use rainwater, not only that which falls from the sky but also that caught by the large cisterns we have on campus. The cisterns have been there for years but no one has ever made good use of the water until now (as far as I know). There are two cisterns close to the butterfly garden, and both were about half full at the beginning of June when I started using them.

If you place your hand on the side of the cistern, you can feel a temperature difference where the water is. In the hot afternoons when bright sunlight is shining on it, the metal feels cooler where the water is. In the mornings, it feels warmer. The water level is now about a foot above the concrete platform, and the water pressure is lessening. I really hope we get some good thunderstorms soon! Then we can see how the garden works at collecting water in the basins, and we can get more water into the cisterns from the roofs.