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September 12, 2006

Harvest Rainwater and Save Big

by Dave Ruigh, Mother Earth News Editorial Intern

To conserve energy and save on your monthly water bill, simply look to
the sky -- rainwater is an excellent source of water for gardening,
bathing, cooking and drinking. Unlike conventional water drawn from
underground aquifers, rainwater is always salt- and mineral-free, and
its low hardness level eliminates any need for a water softener.

Rainwater harvesting systems can be very expensive and complex, but
even setting up a barrel can save you thousands of gallons of tap
water each year, especially if you connect it to a downspout. In the
summer, when lawn and garden watering typically account for 40 percent
of a household's total water use, attaching an ordinary hose to a full
rain barrel and running it through your garden will prevent large
amounts of unnecessary water waste.

Sixty to 80 gallon barrels usually work best for rainwater harvesting,
and are widely available. If you decide to use a barrel you already
own, make sure it has never held anything toxic, and wash it out
thoroughly just to be sure. After it rains, cover the barrel with a
fine mesh to keep out mosquitoes, debris and other contaminants.

To learn about the many other systems of rainwater harvesting and to
see a number of design plans, read Harvest the Rain
(http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green_Home_Building/2003...er/Harvest_the_Rain)
in the August/September 2003 issue of Mother Earth News.

Read More:
http://www.motherearthliving.com/issues/motherearthlivi...arvesting_281-1.html

Read Comments:
http://www.motherearthliving.com/issues/motherearthlivi...show_comments=1#read

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http://www.motherearthliving.com/issues/motherearthlivi...ting_281-1.html#post

__________________________________________________________

Use free rainwater and create a sustainable watering system!
"Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands"
By Brad Lancaster
With more than 175 pages and 150 illustrations, this book will help
you save money and create an integrated, multifunctional
water-harvesting plan specific to your site and needs. Lancaster has
more than a decade of experience with permaculture and rainwater
harvesting.

Order Now: Sale Price $21.20
(https://www.motherearthshopping.com/order/Order.aspx?PromoCode=MMEPA695)

___________________________________________________________

Thank you Sweetpea!
No, I hadn't seen those, and I like to read up whenever I see stuff.

We've got access to several 200 gallon plastic cubes that come in giant metal "milk crates". They have a spigot at the bottom and a large screw-on cap that accesses the top. DH gets them at work - they once housed WWT polymers. I've checked with DEQ, and they said with a good rinse they are very useable for storing roofwater for plant watering purposes. (Ideally, I'd love to be able to use roof water for showering, flushing, & laundry, but that would really be pushing DH too far, I think, plus a roof washer system costs a bit.)

My vision would be to plumb 5-6 of these together, with only 1 being directly under the downspout. (Actually, two rows of 5 or 6, at either end of the house - that would give me 2000-2400 gallons of stored water.) DH doesn't like the looks of them butted up to the house, so I'd said we could either grow vines up the metal cartons, or we could house them under the deck.
I am not sure if the plumbing connections should be in the middle of the cubes or at the top. I also need to figure out an overflow mechanism, and a way to let water in, but keep mosquitoes out.

I also want to divert our household greywater to a rock-reed system, and use that (along with swales built into the yard) to keep my tree guilds watered on a more-or-less continuous basis.

Thank you for posting those.

Oh, nuts. I thought the "order now slae price $21.20" was referring to rainbarrels!!

shucks.

I've been in the market for three (or more) barrels for awhile, but can't pony up the dough for full price at the moment.

Anyone got a cheap source?

I got a brine tank for free from the water softener dealer. This was mentioned on the forum a while back. Haven't gotten around to hooking it up yet. It should do a fine job though. Can't beat the price!!

Being in Mississippi, you shouldn't have to ever worry about a "hard freeze" -- that much water would take days at least to freeze enough to damage or block pipes...

I'd use 4" PVC pipes shaped something like this, I guess basically an invert "J":

____ _ _ _ desired max. water level
| |
| |
|
|
|

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ bottom of tank

For the incoming, just run PVC or whatever right from the downspout -- I doubt like heck Mosquitos will fly down 10' or 12' or more of gutter downspout then some more piping to the tanks.

For those in northerly climes with a good flow, the above design makes a nice ice-proof drain since it's not affected by surface ice...as long as the flow is enough to keep the pipe open!

Thanks Matt. You're right, very rarely do we get a truly hard freeze. Sometimes pipes do freeze, but if we insulate them, and keep a slow drip going it's enough to keep them unfrozen.

I am slightly puzzled as to where the overflow would drain, tho. (Out the side? And of which tank in the series - first, last, or all?)

d - I'm not sure from your description, but if those cubes are see-through plastic or white plastic, the water may get algae in it. I have white PVC pipe going into my water tanks, and there's always algae in them because the light can get through. I have to empty out the tanks, use long handled mops and clean them out, it's slippery as ice. It's a drag, so anything you can do to make the cubes dark would be good.

The water tanks these days are made out of wood or dark black or green plastic so that doesn't happen. Probably the plants don't mind the algae, but the drippers and drip lines do, because if that algae dries it turns into bits of stuff that can plug up just about anything.

There are tank fixtures that fit on water tanks that screw together, one from the inside and one part from the outside of the tank where you've drilled a hole. Those fixtures are ready to accept a hose, usually the size of a garden hose, which I think is 5/8th of an inch. The hose can be attached as an overflow device, and even run down a hill to other storage devices that are out of sight.

And be sure the tanks are secured to the ground. In a big wind storm they are like balloons!

Yes, the tanks are white. Ideally they would be stored under the deck on the north side of the house, but I don't know how much sunlight that would omit. There'd probably still be some algae growing. Perhaps I should paint them green?

At this point, I'd mostly be using hoses and sprinklers to water, so I'm not sure if algae would be a huge problem, at least at first. Eventually, I think I would like to get a drip system, at least for the zone closest to the house. I know sprinklers are wasteful, and a drip system would probably be much healthier for my plants, but right now sprinklers are moveable, low-tech, and most important, low-cost. And with an average rainfall of 60+ inches per year, I'm not vitally concerned about drip conservation.

Where do you get those tank fixtures you're talking about?
Also, what sort of securing are you thinking of? I figured we'd use stake the metal containers to the ground, and bungee over top of the crates to keep the bladders secure.
We had two tanks on-site during Katrina. The one half-filled with water didn't go anywhere, and I think we had the other tied to a tree.