How to Harvest Rainwater

Concerned about the amount of scarce water you and your family go through every day? When you stop and think about it, we've got a reliable supply of clean, inexpensive water we can use and it literally falls from the sky. Years ago people used to have rain barrels that held water for future use, but most of us have gotten so used to having a steady supply of water pumped from the ground that we gave up on "old fashioned" rain barrels. However, modern day concerns about water usage and cost are leading many of us to reconsider the idea of harvesting this natural supply of water. Although you shouldn't drink it, harvested rainwater is great for watering plants or even lawns. All you need to harvest rainwater is a simple system to capture and store fallen rain and then distribute it when it's needed.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Hoses to connect the barrels and distribute the rainwater
• Shovel
• Pea gravel
• Screen for your downspout
• Rain barrel

Catching and Storing Rainwater

1. Consider the amount of rainwater that runs off your roof during a rainfall. Depending on the size of your roof, there could be hundreds of gallons literally running away.
2. Determine where you will place your rainwater collection system. It should be near the downspout of your existing gutter system.
3. Dig a base area for your rain barrels about four inches deep and fill it with pea gravel.
4. Lay cement blocks on top of the pea gravel and level them. Alternatively, build an attractive wooden base structure to hold your rain barrels. (The higher your barrels are off the ground, the more water pressure you will have to distribute your stored water.)
5. Purchase a rain barrel or rain barrels (available from garden supply stores, landscape gardeners or even gutter installation companies) and position it on the base.
6. Install a screen at the top of your downspout or rain barrels to keep leaves and twigs out of your harvested rainwater, and rearrange your downspout so the discharge goes directly into the barrel.
7. Install hoses between your barrels (near the top) so they will share the collected rainwater, if you are going to be using more than one barrel.
8. Install an overflow hose running at least three feet away from your home foundation on one of the barrels so if the system gets too full, the overflow won't end up at the base of your foundation or cause local erosion.
9. Install taps near the bottom of your rain barrels so you can connect your hose or water distribution system.

Distributing Your Harvest

10. Connect a soaker hose or a watering system made from plastic tubing to the outlets on your rain barrels and run it to your garden. When your garden needs watering all you need to do is turn on the tap and gravity will force the water through the tubes.

Maintaining Your Water Harvesting System

11. Clean the screen at the top of your downspout periodically to remove any accumulation of leaves or debris.
12. Check the holes in your water distribution system occasionally. Since they are lying on the ground, they need to be cleaned periodically.

Tips & Warnings

• Water barrels can be made from plastic, metal or wood, and they can be as basic as a recycled 55 gallon plastic food grade drum to a designer-created thing of beauty. All will function just fine.
• Install the bottom taps high enough on the barrels that you can get a bucket under them.
• Never drink the rainwater stored in your system.

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