adding 1500 gallons of rainwater to one's inventory

[jed turtle]

Just finished adding 1500 - 2000 gallons of fresh rainwater to my inventory of supplies.

Thought I would pass along my construction methods.

Had a neighbor bring his backhoe over for less than an hour and dig a trench with sloping sides (45̊ slopes, sides and ends) about 16' long, 4' deep, and roughly 8' wide. After raking the slopes with a rake and throwing out the collected loose stones with a shovel, I surfaced the bottom and sides with fine sawdust from a portable bandsaw sawmill. Then I covered all with a three large old tarps, and finished with a large new tarp, (20' by 40', cutting off the excess length and using that as a wood pile cover.)

Over this I built a lightweight framework of 1" by 3" strapping to support clear 6 mil poly stapled to a pressure-treated framework of 2" x 4"s framing the top of the sloped trench, to keep out critters and dust. On one end I connected the downspout from the house roof rainwater gutter system in through the top of the poly, and at the other end I made a place for the water to overflow and leave the impoundment through a break in the top edge of the trench. The way the poly overlaps the top tarp and curls under it and over the bottom old tarp at the outlet end, it suspect frogs and snakes will have trouble figuring out to get in.

Over all this I have built a 12' by 20' floor for a storage shed. I have poly covering the floor to keep rainwater from accumulating on the light-weight poly/frame over the pond underneath, so that rainwater won’t accumulate on top of the poly and threaten to collapse it into the pond.

Last steps will include insulating around the sides with 2" foam boards and connecting the pond by 12 volt pump to the house toilet, washing machine, and shower, to reduce the drain on my dug well during the dry summer months (of which we haven’t had any this particular year).

Also I plan to connect the pond to my root/ hurricane cellar with a hand pump.

 

[rhughe13]

That sounds like an interesting construction. I hope you have a few pics to post of your project. I've got a spring and two wells which are all a bit high in iron content. So roof run-off is a better solution for inside water. I've got everything I need when I get ready to convert over.

 

[Peanut]

Yes, please post some pics of this project. I have a, ummm, new space coming available to me as we redo the floor in our backroom. All that wasted space under there...I'm trying to figure out the best use for it (after I dig the dirt out heh).

 

[Mongo]

Cool idea.
Cresson Kearney has something similar in his book.

 

[Loretta Van Riet]

I have a question in general about collecting rainwater. How potable is it? If I use a clean container to catch the rain, then run it through a "Berky" type filter, can I safely drink it? (sorry, don't mean to high-jack the thread)

Loretta V.

jedturtle, please give us a pic!

 

[lynnie]

Loretta....the books I've read say to let it rain for ten minutes and then start collecting. After that it should be OK.

 

[Loretta Van Riet]

Thanks lynnie!

Loretta V.

 

[jed turtle]

sorry, no pics at this time. besides, it's under the new deck (which should have walls and a roof in a few weeks) - about 6" beneath it with 2 layers of poly to keep dust out and keep moisture from rising into the floor causing dryrot problems down the road.

yes, one can devise a switch at the bottom of the down spout so that the first several minutes of runoff from the roof is diverted to a hanging bucket so dust etc on the roof can be cleaned off, and then as the bucket fills, the weight of it causes the "switch" to swing around and allow the rain to enter the cistern. a means to prevent this from happening should be installed to allow one to manually override the system to prevent radioactive or other types of catastrophic contamination from entering the cistern.

rainwater is distilled water (evaporated) so until the arrival of the twentieth century it was the cleanest water available (except for perhaps areas that were prone to dust storms). since the arrival of the industrial age however, there is apt to be anything from acid rain (courtesy of coal burning power plants) to traces of pesticides (thanks to aerial crop spraying and perhaps evaporation of similar petroleum distillates) found in rainwater. i have no problem running it through my aquarain gravity drip water filter to provide clean drinking water though. and in a pinch i wouldn't hesitate to drink it unfiltered. one could also run the water through a barrel of gravel/sand before it reaches the cistern.

i needed a large reservoir of water for my future methane digester project (to mix water with cow manure) and i didn't want to drain my dug well, so this was the best alternative. since it also provides an emergency firepond, backup house supply, and emergency reservoir for the fallout shelter/ root cellar, it was not just a no-brainer but had become a priority. top of the list.