No rain again, prepare for less tomorrow

Today, the rain came down for about a minute. Too bad, I ran out of water that I had been saving from rainfall on Father's day. I finally had to break out the hose to water the blueberries, the raspberries, fig trees and the peach tree. Each rainfall I have been collecting about 80 gallons of water. The rain came spaced out just enough that right when the buckets and the five gallon jerry cans that I have been using were empty we would get a down pour. I have been collecting since the beginning of April, I figure I have used around 2000 gallons of rainwater this year. I need to get a couple of plastic barrels and make some good rain barrels. They sell for around fifteen bucks at the feed store. I think I need to be able to store around four hundred gallons to get through the driest parts of the summer, maybe six hundred.
Like many people I talked to my dad on fathers day. He told me he only had two little cucumbers this year which amazed me cause we have already make eight jars of pickles and we pick bucket full every day. He thinks it is because it is not hot enough in northern California and they are not getting enough water. He also thinks they are going to raise the water rates. Living in any densely populated area the cost of water will soon outweigh they cost of gardening. Any kind of micro agricultural enterprise just wont be feasible on a large city lot because no one will be able to afford the water. There is a blog I like about homesteading in downtown Houston and starting what they call the high density home orchard, but water costs are just going to get exponentially higher over the next couple decades.
Orchards are the kind of thing you have to think of in terms of decades. They just don't happen in a year or two. We are really lucky to have plenty of water here. We have lived in the desert so we know what it is like to have a water bill that can double in a year. Living in the country growing some of your own food does make you think about the resouces around you what can you do with them? how do you sustain them? what are they worth? what I am doing to protect them for my self and my kids?