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Homeowner Forum / Construction / November 2003rain water catchment systems?
We are building a small cabin in the hills of NC and we are interested in a rain catchment system for drainking and other uses. I haven't had any luck in locating a "turnkey" system for my use. Anyone here know of one or a good place to look for same? Chuck I'm designing a rather ambitious (12K liter storage) rainwater harvesting system for my home. I found the following Texas document to be very helpful (though somewhat dated given the surge in interest since 1997): <http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/RainHarv.pdf> For a prominent vendor of collection kits, parts and systems, see: <http://www.lakotawatercompany.com> I plan to pipe my roof water into my softwater system; the storage capacity will make it my primary source and I'll use municipal water as a backup and for drinking. I'm still learning about the many health issues to consider when collecting rainwater from the roof, mainly due to fecal and mould residues. Even with UV filtering, reverse osmosis and bleach additives I wouldn't take a chance on using it for cooking and drinking. Mind you, we buy distilled water for drinking anyway as our municipal system has been less than trustworthy in recent years. As you're building in the hills, a well-placed well might be an even better option. --Tony > We are building a small cabin in the hills of NC and we are interested in a > rain catchment system for drainking and other uses. I haven't had any luck > in locating a "turnkey" system for my use. Anyone here know of one or a > good place to look for same? > Chuck ------------------------------------------------------- Tony Gahlinger & Associates Inc. Data Communication Consultants and Software Development 48 Combermere Crescent, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 5B1 Tel. 519-888-6267 ------------------------------------------------------- During my years as a student at the Univ. Of Waterloo, I lived in a farmhouse which had a rainwater cistern in the basement. I drank that water for years (as did the previous tenant before me for 40 years) and I was never sick (not even a cold) in all the time that I lived there. Some rainwater harvesting related links from a Rainwater Reuse report that Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp did awhile ago: http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/publications/en/rh-pr/tech/03-100-e.htm http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/reuse/index.htm http://www.waterreuse.org http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/Focus/RWH2.asp http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/download/report_mannheim.pdf > I'm designing a rather ambitious (12K liter storage) rainwater > harvesting system for my home. I found the following Texas [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > Tel. 519-888-6267 > ------------------------------------------------------- I grew up on cistern water. Generally it was not a problem except we could not keep gold fish. Mom got concerned about this and took a sample somewhere for testing. It came down to the Purple Martins in the neighborhood roosted on the TV antenna over the roof. We were advised to add a little bleach to the cistern every once in a while. > During my years as a student at the Univ. Of Waterloo, I lived in a farmhouse > which had a rainwater cistern in the basement. [quoted text clipped - 49 lines] > > Tel. 519-888-6267 > > ------------------------------------------------------- Dan; I wouldn't want to tell these folks what I found in the bottom of my farmhouse cistern (hint: T'weren't gold. My feeling (after the fact) was that the effluent from the drowned critters encouraged my body to develop antibodies, making me more disease-resistant. As the saying goes "What doesn't kill you helps to make you stronger." Another after-the-fact thought: It'd be a good idea to put at least a screen over the cistern. ) As to the bird faeces and other rooftop pollution, it's a farily simple matter to rig up a device to dump the first wash (about 5 US gallons worth) during a rain before directing the balance into the cistern. In rain-challenged places like parts of Australia, they often feel that a 5 gallon dump is extravagant. It helps if the roof is a smooth-surfaced material (ie NOT mineral-surfaced asphalt) making "washing" a lot easier. For those who have not yet checked it out, do a Google on the "Toronto Healthy House". All of its water is derived from on-site collection and grey/black water reclaimation. > I grew up on cistern water. Generally it was not a problem except we could > not keep gold fish. Mom got concerned about this and took a sample [quoted text clipped - 63 lines] > > > Tel. 519-888-6267 > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > My feeling (after the fact) was that the effluent > from the drowned critters encouraged my body to develop antibodies, making me > more disease-resistant. As the saying goes "What doesn't kill you helps to make > you stronger." Could be. This is precisely what one theory says about the marked increase in autoimmune system-related diseases in the U.S; we have made our environment so clean that our immune system doesn't have enough to do, and starts attacking the wrong things. >We are building a small cabin in the hills of NC and we are interested in a >rain catchment system for drainking and other uses. I haven't had any luck >in locating a "turnkey" system for my use. Anyone here know of one or a >good place to look for same? If you're catching rain off the roof, there isn't much to it. A gutter system, a tank, and a pressure pump. The trickiest part is shunting off the first bit of rain to let the roof wash off. Mach Twain http://www.watertanks.com/ they got the stuff you need but local will reduce shipping one thing you should plan for ordering water because you wont be able to collect enough to cover draughts. adding bleach is a good idea but consumer bleach may contain additives they say just a couple drops of oil can contaminate thousands of gallons of water so you need to watch what goes in your water. you will want to add both a partical and uv filter to clean your water. I would add an additional carbon filter on your kitchen sink for cooking and drinking. another idea you should consider is building your plumbing to capture your shower and washing water and using that to flush your toilets. 1 persons morning shower should cover their toilet use durring the day. this means a second tank and pump but no filtration you will also have to make sure you can feed those lines with fresh water if needed. and use back flow restrictors and check valves and manual valves to seperate the two systems to prevent contamination so basicaly fresh water into the house endup as toilet water then goes into the septic system Kitchen sink should probably also go into the septic since organics could cause problems. good luck bob marencin www.yourepair.com > We are building a small cabin in the hills of NC and we are interested in a > rain catchment system for drainking and other uses. I haven't had any luck > in locating a "turnkey" system for my use. Anyone here know of one or a > good place to look for same? > Chuck |
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