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Start Harvesting Rain Water Today! Borba, D. 2006. Natural
Rain Water.
www.naturalrainwater.com
A compelling quote in this write-up urges homeowners to
consider rain barrels for their homes. “Anyone with a roof on planet Earth can
harvest rainwater” from Mexico City to Calcutta or Los Angeles to Beijing. One
inch of rainfall on a 1,000-foot surface will yield approximately 500 gallons of
soft, untreated rainwater. It’s a huge source of water, and is as close as your
downspout. As Borba says, “Liberate your downspout today and harvest the rain!”
At least you’ll be collecting this resource, even if its only use is
replenishing the ground during winter rains.
Links on this website include:
- Making a rainwater toilet
- Harvest Rain
- Compost
- How to make a rain barrel
- Checking rain facts
- Showing the rain barrel gallery
- Products
- Let’s talk about rain
- Check your local rain stats
- Start composting today
Collecting and Storing Rainwater. February 1998. Sunset.
52-54. (Magazine article)
Sunset Magazine articles age, but they just don’t wear out.
Here’s one from a few years back that is really good at describing to the
‘carpentry-challenged’, how to build a rainwater collection system. It’s as if
the newer articles are trying to get so fancy that they have forgotten that a
lot of us don’t have the mechanical wherewithal to put these things together.
Color photos in this two pager are detailed and we found that using this article
with the website “A Spouse’s Guide to Building a Perfect Water Barrel System”,
with a little alteration to it (on page 7), was just the ticket.
Harvest the Rain. 2003. Mother Earth News. 199:42-49.
(Magazine article)
A rainwater collection system for the home might seem
redundant in the Pacific Northwest’s humid winter climate. Actually, because
excess runoff from rainfall often pushes the city’s sewer capacity past its
limits, the USEPA has the city on its high priority watch list. Harvesting of
rainfall has an important role in reducing runoff, and installing a system can
be, according to this article, “as simple as directing gutters to a lidded
garbage can or as complex as a concrete cistern, roof washer, and filtration
system”. All aspects of rainwater harvesting are included, as well as
suggestions for how homeowners can make decisions based on their personal needs
and budget.
Potable water collectors must consider safe roofing material
(e.g., lead-free, treated wood shingles), particles released from woodstoves,
and animal droppings among other factors. Also included are rainwater collection
calculations based on annual rainfall and roof surface area.
Materials for building and assembling a system are listed such as cisterns,
gutters, downspouts, pumps, pressure tanks, and filtration devices. Again,
depending on the sophistication level of the system desired by the homeowner,
rainwater collection systems can be simple or complex. Ultraviolet sterilization
and aeration systems require a good deal of energy to operate, perhaps
offsetting the benefits of the system by increasing energy consumption.
We prefer step-by-step instructions to theoretical discussions
and this resource tells us how to build and how to install rain barrels at home.
A detailed list of supplies and tools is provided, along with estimates, for the
cost of new and used rain barrels.
Links from this page direct homeowners to other sites and
discussions on operation and maintenance of rain barrels, as well as other
eco-friendly water practices such as rain gardens and healthy lawn care. This is
a great resource for homeowners interested in down-home, local management of
water resources.
How to Build and Install a Rain Barrel. August 2002. South
River Federation and the Center for Watershed Protection. Annapolis MD.
www.cwp.org/Community_Watersheds/brochure.pdf
Rain barrels collect rainwater from the roof and store it for
later use in practical applications such as watering the lawn or the garden.
Water that would otherwise flow into the storm drain is recycled or reused. If
you’ve never noticed how hard it is to replenish your lawn with water, dig down
into the soil with a shovel during the month of November (after we’ve had some
rain) – you’ll be surprised to see how dry it is and particularly in compacted
soil such as your lawn. Collecting rainwater for later use lowers water costs —
especially during the summer, recharges groundwater naturally, and reduces water
pollution collected from storm water runoff. Rain barrels are inexpensive and
easy to build. There are more elaborate rain barrel systems but this one is a
good, simple project that can be accomplished in three steps with easy to obtain
supplies. In our opinion, supplemental information isn’t necessary.
With a few minor alterations, this website in conjunction with
the Sunset Magazine article, is good for putting together a couple of rain
barrels for roof water collection. Here are the minor alterations: Ignore the 3”
PVC parts section. For the “overflow”, we used a brass hose connector at the top
of one barrel that allows for a garden hose hook up. For “inflow”, if you are
using barrels with unscrewable 4” caps on the top, just cap one with a downspout
conversion from the gutter (round at bottom and square at top) for filling up
(you might need to check for some leaks but a little gutter glue goes a long
way). Finally, for barrel to barrel connections, use 1” PVC, 2- 90° elbows, a
brass spigot, and finally join together with PVC cement. We had to buy a 3/4”
pipe tap to make the threads in the barrels but only because the contractor who
lives next door couldn’t find his.
Jumbo Jar Ready for Rain. Redden, J. August 28, 2007. The
Portland Tribune. (Newspaper article)
Ever wonder how you could collect more of Portland’s rainfall
through the winter without constructing 50 bright blue barrels? Consider an
above-ground cistern that has a two-fold purpose: rainwater collection and
garden art. Brad Crowley, with the help of a grant from Aveeno Active Naturals,
made his roughly 7-foot cement and plaster ‘Thai Jar” to hold 800 gallons of
rainwater. His garden art is located on 7200 N.E. 11th Ave. and Woodlawn Park.
Water Storage for Off-Grid Living. Abercrombie, P. and A.
Ludwig. 2006. BackHome Magazine. 82(3):40-43. (Magazine article)
Why store water at home? Abercrombie and Ludwig suggest
several reasons to store collected rainwater at home, including:
- Creates a reserve for taking care of your needs during
peak demand
- Smoothes out variation in supply (for intervals between
rainfalls)
- Provides water security during supply interruption or
disaster
- Improves water quality in our local waterways
- Enables a smaller pipe to serve for a distant source
The article covers choosing various storage methods and the
costs associated with them. It also details stability of soil and slope,
aesthetics, security and buried storage, sizing water tanks, size and structural
integrity, and tank materials. Two informative figures included in the article
are Common Tank Features and a Cost Per Gallon graph. For more information, you
are directed to www.waterstorage.ws.
How Green Grows My Roof. Gragg, R. March 18, 2007. The Sunday
Oregonian. (Newspaper article)
No green guide is complete without a mention of green roof
specialist Tom Liptan of The Bureau of Environmental Services. This Oregonian
article features both Tom and Sean Hogan, renowned author and owner of Cistus
Nursery, who have experimented with ecoroofs, making them more accomplished at
adapting the German models of ecoroofs to Portland, Oregon with its four months
of drought. The highlights are 1) always hire an engineer to inspect the
structural load of a roof, 2) use a water proof membrane and maybe a root proof
one, 3) use a soil mix that blends lightweight attributes and non-polluting
minerals with stability, and 4) always use plants that withstand the winter
soaks and the summer droughts in shallow, unshaded soil. A great cross-cut
diagram of an ecoroof is featured at the bottom of the page.
From Europe, a No-Chlorine Backyard Pool. Kurutz, S. April 5,
2007. The New York Times: “House and Home.” (Newspaper article)
Total Habitat builds swimming pools that are far from the
white or blue-tiled rectangular swimming arrangements we currently call pools.
The Total Habitat pools (called natural pools) are usually bordered with wood,
planted with lush vegetation, free of chemicals like chlorine, and rely on
regeneration zones to act as cleansers, just like nature. Unlike artificial
ponds which tend to be murky due to runoff and sediment from soil erosion, the
natural pools are clear to the bottom. Natural pools often mimic the local
environment and integrate local climate, resulting in models that include jungle
lagoons with thatch-roofed palapas and regeneration zones filled with tropical
foliage like palm trees and canna lilies if you live in southern California or
Juncus and rushes if you live in Portland. There’s a good diagram that explains
what is involved with the building of a natural swimming pool along with several
real examples.
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