What have you done today to lower your impact?

We are washing away the foundations of our existence on every front. It is high time we move from crashing about on the planet like a bull in china shop and find a way to go forward with intent. We must find systems of living based on sustainability. The systems and tools exist, it is up to each of us to adopt them.

Blog Archive

Tuesday 16 August 2011

At last, a proper rainwater harvesting system!

Two of the giant ones just off the truck.
One of the smaller tanks heads up the drive past the ramp.
The last big one about to slide into place.
One 500 tank is elevated for distribution pressure
Checking the fill during the first rain; the temporary covers are for shade.
At long last, we have our water tanks. The semi arrived a day earlier than expected, but we were mostly ready. I had built a ramp with my friend Carl, as we were responsible for getting them off the truck. Jacqui and I rolled them down the ramp and onto the grass at the bottom of the drive. Three 500 gallon tanks at 100lbs each and three 1550 gallon tanks at 215lbs each, that's over 6000 gallons of storage. We prepared the way, swept the drive and moved obstacles, and rolled them into place one by one. Only one of the giant tanks is hooked up for now, and it's only collecting from a little less than half the roof, but we still collected around 200 gallons in a couple of very short downpours. As that one fills, we'll pump the excess into the less giant tanks, particularly the one mounted on the plinth to provide some pressure to hoses. The Rain Reserve diverter and the Beingwater First Flush units are working great. I'll have to duplicate that setup for the south side of the house as well. This will be routed to the other two giant tanks. Until we get the deck framed in above those tanks, we won't be able to hook the last two up, as we will have to move them to access the structure.  I've yet to do the drawings for the building permit for the deck, but hopefully will get that squared away this week.
Clearly the system is not complete, but it is already far superior to the drip to trashcan system I've been getting by with. The trash cans will go into service as comfrey tea brewing containers;, two are already full of composted horse manure I picked up yesterday.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

That’s very nice to hear. I’m sure nature is celebrating with you. He-he. The “drip to trashcan system” you had before wasn’t that bad, actually, considering how intelligent and resourceful it was to use that as an alternative. But a real rainwater harvesting system still is definitely way better and efficient. Be careful with the rest of the installation. ;)

Tabatha Tidd

C Robb said...

Thanks for the comment,
We are much further along now, almost ready to plumb it into the house.

Sharon said...

Those are huge water tanks! I’m sure they’re heavy, how did you managed to take it up there? It must have drained your energy! You should carefully map out a plan on how your water system would work. I’m sure, it’s already done by now, maybe you could also post its end result.

-Sharon Strock

C Robb said...

Thanks for the interest Sharon, I've posted a more recent shot of the tanks, the deck and intake system. Moving them wasn't actually that hard, we just rolled them close to where we wanted them and them and then carefully tipped them onto their bottoms. we put a few boards down as slides and pushed them into place. The big ones were 275 pounds each and the little ones about 100. We haven't quite finished the install, the 3 big ones are all plumbed together and ready to plumb into the house but we haven't cleared a place in the basement for the pump and filters yet.