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I've found my next project ... Rainwater Collection and Storage ...
- Thread starter BadgeBunny
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Back in the good old days. A lot of farms had rain collection systems built into their homes. All the water ran to cisterns and had those really neat water bucket pumps. I knew an old man in Kansas that had one of these. It was always full but he wouldn't use it. The city plumbed water directly to his house so he couldn't see any reason to use it. "sigh"
pictured is the style that he had. It was beautiful. I saw this type, which uses a crank system with a chain and little buckets to scoop up the water and pour it out the faucet, at a lot of auctions in Kansas.
pictured is the style that he had. It was beautiful. I saw this type, which uses a crank system with a chain and little buckets to scoop up the water and pour it out the faucet, at a lot of auctions in Kansas.
I think you're right to be concerned. Even if your collection system has a way to flush organic contamination there's no way to neutralize chemical contamination, which makes both roof and urban well water questionable. On the other hand, it's better to have a fresh drink of water contaminated with bird poo, zinc, lead, arsenic or asphalt than to die.
Here's a little bit of information on the legality. Check out Colorado.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainwater_harvesting#Present_day
Probably more helpful: http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/env-res/rainwater-harvesting.aspx
One case, involving ponds: http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-hom...million-gallons-of-illicit-rainwater-sentence
20,000 gallons: http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/blogs/extreme-residential-rainwater-harvesting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainwater_harvesting#Present_day
Probably more helpful: http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/env-res/rainwater-harvesting.aspx
One case, involving ponds: http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-hom...million-gallons-of-illicit-rainwater-sentence
20,000 gallons: http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/blogs/extreme-residential-rainwater-harvesting
I have a 275 gal tote set up and has been full all summer. The use I have planned for this is toilet flush water in case of power outage (350 ft deep well). Will I have a problem with extreme cold this winter? I don't need a 275 gal block of ice sitting in my yard............
I have a 275 gal tote set up and has been full all summer. The use I have planned for this is toilet flush water in case of power outage (350 ft deep well). Will I have a problem with extreme cold this winter? I don't need a 275 gal block of ice sitting in my yard............
I've never seen anything with that much water in it freeze solid here in Oklahoma, but I have heard stories. Stock tanks will get a pretty heavy duty layer of ice on the top, though. I've seen ranchers (my grandpa and dad, specifically) have ice so thick on their tanks that they've had to use an ax to break it up. Just be sure to leave enough headspace in the tote to allow for expansion and it shouldn't create problem for you. You might wrap it in that black plastic wrap that folks wrap their plants in to insulate them in the winter. The sun shining on the wrap will trap and hold just enough heat to keep them above freezing -- unless we have another Ice Age come through.
About 50% of houses in the southeast part of Alaska use rainwater for their sole water source. Except for the occasional bird poop there isn't any real contamination issue to worry about. Below is a picture of the water tanks we had outside of our house when we lived in Ketchikan. Lived there for 7 years and the only treatment the water got was being filtered through those spun cotton cord filters and about every 3 months I'd pour in 1 cup of bleach. Never got sick from drinking the water.
