Know your soil if you’re trying to bank rainwater

I read with interest the timely and informative article on rain harvesting (“Save the rain — and your yard,” March 4).

I have one important piece of advice: Know your soil. Our last house had an impermeable layer of rock and clay below a 1- to 4-foot-deep layer of topsoil. When our “water bank” reached capacity, a sump pump took over and diverted the water down the driveway ... until the electricity failed. Then our living room floor began “banking” the water. A less-than-ideal solution, to say the least!

This story was originally published March 6, 2016 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Know your soil if you’re trying to bank rainwater."