MIIS Community Garden

Rainwater tank painted by the Community!

The following picture gallery is from the Monterey Institute of International Studies student run Community Garden.  The students with support of MIIS raised money to install a 3,000 gallon rainwater harvesting system.  The system is connected to two downspouts that support approximately 800 square feet of catchment area.  It is expected the system will fill after 7-8 inches of rain on the Monterey Peninsula.  Each downspout is supported by a Graf downspout filter.  The filtered water runs to a central Leaf Eater and First Flush where it is further cleansed.  Lastly it is run through a wet conveyance into the bottom of the 3,000 gallon tank.  Overflow water is planned to be used passively through the community garden based on the teachings of Brad Lancaster.  The stored water is gravity fed into the garden with several hundred feet of 1/2 inch poly hose with ball valves controlling water flow to each specific bed.  The pictures show initial excavation and clean up by the students.  Then, 4-5 inches of decomposed granite was compacted to create a firm base by Garden Solutions Landscape 831-224-4006.  The tank was delivered and then installed on December 27th and 28th by Precision Plumbing.  Irrigation to the planting beds was installed in June after the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association's Tim Pope and Billy Kniffen visited the site to give input on using gravity to meet the needs of the garden. 

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The final look prior to the students burying the overflow line and using it passively in the garden.