Question From: Bellingham, Washington, United States
Q: We're on well water and July and August have become very hot and dry for us. We want to put in a cistern to capture rain water to use during the dry months. I use soaker hoses everywhere for all my vegetables and flowers. To calculate the size of cistern that we will need, I have to figure out how much water a soaker hose would use in an hour. Is this something you can help me with? Thanks for any help you are able to provide! My gardens are close to Duncan, BC, Canada.
A: Lynn, there is no pat answer to this question as it depends on the water pressure. If you are using a pump you can do a mock up using pond water. Remember distance will effect the water pressure so you will need to stretch the connecting hose the distance you need to move the water. Set the soaker hose over some sort of container and run the water for 20 minutes, measure the contents of the container and do the math. That's my best guess. Nancy and Happy Yardening
