[RFEngineer]

“I’m probably smarter than you are (bell curves says so) but still I can’t read your mind. Guessing what you mean doesn’t compare to the data I’ve seen.”

I think I can explain. Since you know about bell curves, being really bright and all, you’ll understand that desert rainfall varies widely from year to year. On one end of the bell curve you’ll be fine, on the other you’ll be dead.

Now, all you need is about 1500 rain barrels to collect your water for the year, and you’ll be set.

As much as you say you’ll be meeting your water needs through rain-collecting, you won’t be. Besides, you may be surprised to find that on the large scale required to sustain a decent human life, it may actually be illegal to collect rainwater and runoff.

[I see my hands]

One needn’t be very bright to understand bell curves. You are revealing more than you care to.

Yes, you are right that rainfall amts vary. That is why storage is important. I won’t need 1,500 rain barrels. What makes you think I would?

Check out this calculator and the very conservative data I’ve entered.

[wita]

Reminds me of a trip to Aruba many years ago, probably about fifteen or twenty years back. At the time, they were proud of a recently completed desalinization plant, that in order to be payed for, required the destruction of the previous system.

That system would be rooftop collection of rainwater into the home cistern. A system that had worked well for many years but would be a serious problem for the governments need to have everyone on the island tied into the new desalinization plant in order to be able to pay for the plant.

So there goes the only drinking water backup courtesy of who else, “the government”.