Costs
In general, our costs were different from what we had expected. We budgeted $1,100 for professional services but we never found anyone who had done this type of work so we did the research and planning ourselves. There were two of us doing most of the planning. Sue planned out the entire drip system and the signage. Ruth took care of water delivery infrastructure and hired the contractor to produce the brochure. We sought free advice from a number of people along the way but what we did was pretty unique.
Below is a list of the total cost of the various sub-projects outlined prior in this document. In addition, there is a separate chart of the details of what was purchased for the drip systems. We used $7.039 of the total $10,500 award. Including $738 of donated items, our total cost was $7,776. We were given nine months to complete the project, including submission of any expenses for reimbursement.
More specifically, the proceeds from our grant were used to:
- Secure a 1,000-gallon used cistern. ( cistern, hauling, paint and crushed rock pad – all donated – $738 value at cost), plus fittings and supplies ($256)
- Design and build a roof and a bamboo structure to hold the roof for rainwater catchment to the new cistern. ($527)
- Purchase supplies to build a drying rack for compost materials under the new roof. ($120)
- Purchase a pump that does not need electricity, plus fittings. ($238)
- Run a 1-1/4 polyethylene pipe from the cisterns toward the north end of the orchard and a second line for the west side of orchard. ($657)
- Install two valves on the poly pipe that allow the water barrels to be filled or to allow water to be pumped to a garden hose at the north end. ($274)
- Paint for translucent water barrels (to minimize penetration of UV light) plus fixtures. ($220)
- Install barrels in structures where the bottom of each barrel is mounted five feet above each of three food bank garden beds. ($1,156)
- Purchase and install three different drip irrigation systems for three different raised beds for evaluation. The crops grown in these beds are donated to the University District Food Bank. ($396)
- Procure perforated pipe and ollas as stand-alone watering devices and evaluate their efficiency. ($495 -pipe was donated bamboo)
- Purchase soil sample corers and a moisture meter to test soil for water needs plus thermometers to assess heat related losses. ($256)
- Outfit garden beds and refinish tops with stain on wood trim and purchase mulching materials including compost, composted manure, straw, hoops and fabric. ($411)
- Hire a graphic artist to produce a brochure explaining the basic components of the water conservation system and print 250 brochures. ($538)
- Buy food for a work party and for the Water Conservation Project Open House held on August 4, 2018. ($273)
- Purchase locks to secure the water barrels and cistern to avoid further losses from passer-bys. ($18)
- Buy a deck box and add storage to hold spare parts of irrigation system. ($151)
- Buy sign holders and a laminating machine for educational signage. ($329)
- Hire a WordPress designer to make a new page on our website for water conservation. ($400)
- Gifts, Miscellaneous costs and labor help. ($264)