Water analysis

1. WATER ANALYSIS
INSIDE AND OUTSIDE A SOMERVILLE, MA HOME

2. SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS
• Average of 49 inches of
rain per year
• Average of 51 inches of
snowfall per year
• Average of 179 sunny
days per year
• Yearly temperatures range
from 83 degrees in July to
19 degrees in January

3. CHALLENGES -INDOOR
Working with indoor plants obviously
poses fewer challenges than working
with outdoor plants. Access to water is
easy and I never have to carry my
watering can too far. However, I live in
an attic apartment and it gets
remarkably more humid up here than
it does outside. When we get a lot of
humid days in a row, I place pots
around all the open windows in the
house and occasionally set up a fan to
allow for a much-needed breeze.
Otherwise, the plants can’t undergo
the process of transpiration and their
growth can potentially slow down or
stop altogether.

4. CHALLENGES -OUTDOOR
Great news! I spoke to my landlords about
sharing the front yard space with me and they
agreed!
There are two storm drain exit-points that feed
directly into the plot they offered me. This poses
a large problem for flooding, as the piece of
land isn’t covered and will therefore get hit with
twice the amount of water (rainfall and drain
runoff) during a storm. I have to find a way to
reroute the water that will inevitably pour from
these spouts. The good news is that because of
these storm drains, I will have a hefty supply of
rain water to store if I can manage it!
The area where the soil ends and the pavement
begins poses a problem, as well. That section of
the land is on a slight decline so I’ll have to
create a barrier to prevent soil erosion from
water runoff.

5. ONE OF TWO STORM DRAIN OPENINGS AT THE
PERIMETER OF MY PLOT

6. NEW WATER MANAGEMENT
TECHNIQUES
• Indoor:
Save discarded water in a bucket when waiting for shower water to heat up
• Outdoor:
Collect storm drain water
Redirect overflow of storm drain water to street sewage
Create a basin or small barrier made of rocks or wood chips to overland flow around shrub (pg. 161)
Create a barrier at the end of the plot, where the soil meets the downward sloping pavement, to
decrease water runoff and soil erosion
Work on increasing soil’s carbon content (if needed) to encourage water absorption