Rain Water Harvesting?

I am interested in the capture of rainwater for irrigation in our garden, and it's something I intend to look at more for this next winter.

Is anyone doing this already?

I don't want too big a system - there was a house profiled in the newspaper a few weeks ago where they installed a massive underground tank, with pumps for delivery. I'm sure just a big barrel would be fine for us. But it does need to be a sealed system, to keep mosquitoes at bay and our curious cats safe.

MW...,
One of our new friends from the DP area is doing a small system for catching A/C condensation and using it for lawn watering.

I say let this thread live, please.

garygid said:

MW...,
One of our new friends from the DP area is doing a small system for catching A/C condensation and using it for lawn watering.

I say let this thread live, please.

Click to expand...

I let my AC condensation drip onto part of our garden. It really helps in this miserably hot drought, and I just move the hose around every couple days for the benefit of different plants. But I too would like to harvest rainwater since when it does rain here, it's so often a deluge where lots of it simply washes away as runoff. Unfortunately, attractive looking rain barrels are very expensive, and the cheaper ones look so dang ugly.

i know a Priuschatter in the San Diego area who set up a system that comprises of 3 or 4 55 gallon drums (dont remember but basically one for each downspout she has). its basically buried in the yard with a screen on top with rocks covering it. there is a hand pump setup to retrieve the water and she states no issues with bugs or the usual standing water thing.

the key thing she wanted is minimal ecological footprint, a DIY project (her friend did do the digging for her with a rented machine) and relatively cheap.

this was about 4-5 years ago that she posted, but pretty sure total cost was in the $300-400 range, most of that being the machine rental and gravel which was delivered. oh course this required a lot of personal sweat which she was willing to do.

unfortunately she is not active on the boards anymore so unable to ask her for more details

I have been considering the barrels from this company but haven't done anything yet. Wish they had a dealer nearby.
http://www.desertplastics-abq.com/waterharvest3.html

mwalsh said:

Is anyone doing this already?

Click to expand...

Actually, I am. Installed a self designed 550 gallon system for my house about a year ago. It's a medium difficulty project.

The system features:
- a leaf eater (to filter out big debris and mosquitoes)
- a first flush (to channel out the most dirty and murky roof water during the 1st part of the rain)
- a ecotronic water booster pump to boost water pressure
- 2 cheap food grade 275 gallon IBC containers (costs only $100 each)

I had lots of fun doing the system. There are loads of youtube videos. My favorite is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvIFMGuqBp8&feature=channel_video_title. I modeled my system using his design.

Results: Half the house water usage after the installation. Gave me lots of satisfaction (up to now: ) and more importantly, makes the entire family more aware of water conservation. Highly recommend that everyone try it!

jackal said:

mwalsh said:

Is anyone doing this already?

Click to expand...

Actually, I am. Installed a self designed 550 gallon system for my house about a year ago. It's a medium difficulty project.

The system features:
- a leaf eater (to filter out big debris and mosquitoes)
- a first flush (to channel out the most dirty and murky roof water during the 1st part of the rain)
- a ecotronic water booster pump to boost water pressure
- 2 cheap food grade 275 gallon IBC containers (costs only $100 each)

Click to expand...

Interesting. Do you have contact information for where you bought the containers...that's a really good deal!

mwalsh said:

Interesting. Do you have contact information for where you bought the containers...that's a really good deal!

Click to expand...

I got them from craigslist.org. Just do a search using "IBC" and you should be able to find your local suppliers. There are lots of these suppliers and mine is in bay area (I know you are in LA area)

Things to note for using IBC for rain harvesting:

1. Use only "food grade" container (not containing chemicals before)
2. If possible, get them to clean inside (its kind of clumsy to clean yourself)
3. The default out faucet is usually not 3/4" garden hose compatible. Many suppliers offer the installation for $10. Get it.
4. You need to paint the containers to make them opaque. (so that algae cannot grow)

Good luck!

jackal said:

mwalsh said:

Interesting. Do you have contact information for where you bought the containers...that's a really good deal!

Click to expand...

I got them from craigslist.org. Just do a search using "IBC" and you should be able to find your local suppliers. There are lots of these suppliers and mine is in bay area (I know you are in LA area)

Things to note for using IBC for rain harvesting:

1. Use only "food grade" container (not containing chemicals before)
2. If possible, get them to clean inside (its kind of clumsy to clean yourself)
3. The default out faucet is usually not 3/4" garden hose compatible. Many suppliers offer the installation for $10. Get it.
4. You need to paint the containers to make them opaque. (so that algae cannot grow)

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info....all stuff I didn't know....yet!

If you want to do simple/small scale, you can get 55 gal. "repurposed" plastic food drums from vendors like this guy that I used in San Antonio: http://www.davethebarrelman.net/products.html
Mine has a lid that comes off and I spray it out with tap water a couple of times a year, since occasionally it does start to smell, usually when the water has been in there for several months and/or I'm collecting water when there is too much pollen on the roof. You can run a short (10 ft) soaker hose from the tank to water a dry area close by. Having it elevated helps with water pressure. Right now we are in the worst drought in TX history, but I still have water in the barrel. It rained a tiny bit the other day (raingauge measured less than .25"), I got about 10 more gallons, which will last me a couple of more weeks for my potted plants. They love the rainwater since in San Antonio the tap water is very hard.
My tank has a screen and I also use "mosquito dunks" in it.

ecoobsessive said:

They (the plants) love the rainwater since in San Antonio the tap water is very hard.

Click to expand...

So true! That's probably the biggest and least mentioned benefit of using rainwater. I noticed my plants and trees are noticeably healthier too. (even if the bay area rainwater is not as hard as San Antonio)

I got my first part today, and it was FREE! It wasn't exactly what I was looking for. But did I mention that it was FREE? We get this stuff called Aquapour in them, which is sort of like a plaster of paris that we use for making molds. I'm looking to snag maybe 2 or 3 more, so I can put one at each downspout from the roof.

I like the barrel ideas..What about the birds..My garden was watered well in Phx but the birds ate everything this year ...The grapes, strawberries ,tomatoes,oranges,5 kinds of berries,everything eaten

This was the 2nd hottest summer in Phx history and I know the birds needed the juice from the garden to survive..Next year I put out water for thr birds..

Great idea Mike! I would definitely do that if we had any appreciable rainfall, but so far (where I live) we've had less than 2" even during the monsoon season which ends the 30th. Instead of rain, we've had at least 6 major dust storms, the last one Tuesday night. Normally, it should be around 6" for the year, but we've been in a drought since '99.

"since 1999?" that does not qualify as a drought. that is evironmental change most likely caused by Man

its like Las Vegas having higher than normal temps. their average temp has increased something like 8º over the past 30 years but that is probably due to neon and not any persistent weather pattern.

Phoenix is probably drier due to redistribution of the existing water that USED to be there. population requirements moves that water around and there is simply nothing being put back to come back.

now, i am just talking. have no scientific evidence. but its a fairly repeatable pattern. things change, we have no idea why and the last thing we will blame is our actions.

Cool ideas. Another source of relatively clean waste water is if you have an RO water filtration system, they typically discharge about 5gal of water for each gal of clean water they make. If you have a garden outside your kitchen, just drill a small hole in the wall, and let the hose run outside instead of into your drain. You'd be surprised how much water is wasted.

We have a 2500gal system that feeds our toilets, washer, and hose bibs in our house that
I built. The system was designed in. It works great, the tank is only dry 1-2mos out of the year.

Sounds like this is more than you want to do. Jackal's system sounds more practical.
Bringing non-potable into the house forces permits and code issues (and inspections).

I have three rain barrels positioned around my house and use them to water a couple of trees and plants. Here in El Paso we've only had 4 inches of rain this year compared to 7 inches through Sept. in a regular year. Go to amazon.com and search rain barrel. They have a good selection at fair prices.

Here's a site to check out on the subject. I know the owner and she's really good. We haven't taken on a collection system project yet, but plan to eventually.

http://www.h2o-me.com/about.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;