Has anyone heard of, or used, plastic above-ground water tanks for irrigation?
Our school/community garden doesn't have water at the site. Students are pulling a garden hose across the street from the school to water. We are looking for alternatives--however hooking up to City of Phoenix water is cost prohibitive. The above-ground option was suggested. The vessel could be filled at intervals with hose water. Students could hook up a hose to the tank and water right from it.
The garden community discussed using flood irrigation, however the water isn't delivered frequently enough, brings weeds etc and seems extremely difficult to control.
Thoughts or suggestions? PS: No, we can't move the garden.
Thanks for your help!
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I've seen rain catchment tanks formed out of culvert pipes set vertically on a small concrete pad.
Also, an inexpensive, temporary tank can be made out of hog fence and plastic. Make circle with the fencing (double layer), line with cardboard and then 3 or 4 mil plastic. Water pressure will keep everything in place. Fish farmers in Mississippi use them as throwaway tanks for growing fish for 18 months.
Hi Cathy,
You can also try the non-profit organization Watershed Management Group at www.watershedmg.org. They are starting to offer classes for water harvesting, green infrastructure, schoolyard habitats amongst others, in the Phoenix valley. They also have grants for water harvesting devices. I put in the grant for Montessori Academy charter school in Paradise Valley and we put a rain tank in this spring. We hope to paint it with the kids this fall. Any artists out there interested in designing a watershed theme and working with the teachers and kids to paint it?
Alley
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Thanks for your reply! Do you have any idea how large of a tank we would need? Our garden is the size of a small city lot (9,517 sq feet) and contains 9 raised beds at present. We'd like to eventually grow to 30 beds (each 8x 5) We would LOVE your help!!