Dear Neighbor,

Are you interest in the benefits of rainwater harvesting to support your trees and shrubs?  I am reaching out to invite you to participate in a Nob Hill neighborhood project that will involve learning about, designing, and installing your very own residential rainwater harvesting features.

We will organize the project details to meet the needs of participants, but here’s what I’m envisioning over the summer and early fall.

Step 1: Identify participants

Identify neighbors who are interested in residential rainwater harvesting and invite them to participate in small (3-4 members) cooperative work groups to design and install rainwater harvesting features for their homes.  Working with partners offers more eyes for better project design, more shovels when it comes time for installation, and more fun.

Step 2: Organizational/Informational meeting

Schedule an initial meeting for information sharing and organizing.  Invite participants to begin drafting designs for their home rainwater harvesting features.

Step 3: Design review meeting

Review designs within workgroups for discussion and problem-solving.  At this step we will also have the design expertise and support of members of the Arid-LID Residential Education and Outreach working group.

Step 4: Cooperative installation

Schedule dates for cooperative installation of the projects designed by each member of working group.

Please respond by June 13, 2026 if you are interested in this project so we can include you in identifying an initial meeting date. For more info on rainwater harvesting check out BernCo’s Rainwater Harvesting and Brad Lancaster’s Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond.  Finally, please be in touch if you have any questions.

Terri DeBacker

Nob Hill Neighborhood Association/Tree Canopy Restoration Team

profdebacker@gmail.com