Rainwater Catchment and Cisterns for MYapplications

From the comments:

Why do you not have rainwater catchment and cisterns?

The return on investment isn't there

It may sound like heresy to use economic terms when talking about growing things and biological systems, but it makes all the sense in the world from my standpoint. The resources I spend on one project are not available to be spent on other projects.

If the contour of the land you are working with is not favorable to the concept (flat or no funneling-features) and if the soil and rainfall regime rarely generate run-off, it feels like pushing a rope.

This is such a great graphic that I had to shoe-horn it in. Bank the moisture in the soil! Bonus Link (Warning, long...likely to cure insomnia). Many thanks to the benefactor-who-must-remain-unnamed for the links and images.

If the contour of the land IS favorable but the favorable contour is 1000 feet away from your point-of use or the favorable contour is closer but isn't on your property then you pretty much out-of-luck...you will be transporting water one way or another.

The Upper Orchard is in the middle of the image and the Hill Orchard is on the right. The screen grab is 400' from east-to-west and half that north-south. The contours are 2' in elevation. There is NO funneling.

 

This screen grab is 200' east-west and is of my Eaton Rapids orchard/gardens. It is on top of a hill and there isn't a lot of slope.

This screen grab is 200' and contains Southern Belle's orchard and garden. Up is in the lower-right corner. The property line is 25' east of the orchard so there isn't much opportunity to terra-form contour to direct run-off her way.

And, for what it is worth: 

• The normal water-table beneath the Upper Orchard is about 25' down.
• The normal water-table beneath the Eaton Rapids orchard is 45' down. 
• The normal water-table beneath Southern Belle's orchard is about 6' down but varies significantly by time-of-year.

Right now, the orchards are wide, grassy aisle-ways with the trees planted in strips that have been treated with herbicide. There is white clover and at least four species of grass* growing in the aisle-ways. If I were to install some kind of catchment system, wouldn't I have to cover the grassy aisle-ways with plastic or bentonite?

If I did that, I would lose the benefits of increasing organic matter in the soil, beneficial insects and nitrogen fixation from the clover. The grassy aisle-ways are also pleasant to walk on regardless of the weather. It is hard to say that about bentonite.

Finally, the few local attempts at catchment systems I have personally seen were mosquito breeding nightmares. The cisterns were much too small and the provisions for filling them were...childish. For example: I would need 1500 gallons (about 200 cubic-feet) to water the 70 fruit and nut trees I planted this year over a five-week dry spell. An above-ground swimming pool 3' high and 10' in diameter would be large enough to hold that but I would need a collection surface above that cistern to gravity feed into it.

If my goal was to be able to totally recharge my 1500 gallon cistern with an inch of rain, then I need 2400 square-feet of collection surface. All of that capital expense and time involved in swimming pools and laying down plastic and weighting the edges so it doesn't blow away...for a couple years of utility. You see, historically, established semi-dwarf fruit trees planted in Eaton County in loam haven't needed supplemental irrigation. The HUGE benefit is the first year while they are establishing and the second year when I am trying to rapidly expand their canopies. 

*Kentucky Bluegrass, Tall Fescue, Red Fescue and Orchard Grass