Slice Your Water Bills–Water Catchment Systems

Harvesting Rainwater–An Unused Resource

If you live in an area that receives a lot of rainfall, harvesting rainwater is a great way to save on water bills and to protect the environment. Rainwater can not only be used to water your plants, but with the right treatment can be used as potable water, both for drinking & bathing.

Rainwater is often better quality than tap water because it hasn’t come into contact with the soil where it can pick up pollutants and contaminants. Due to its lower mineral content it is also easier on plumbing and reduces the need for detergent and soaps.

Water catchment, treatment, and containment systems vary greatly in complexity, so read on for some great ideas on how you can collect rainwater in the best way for yourself and your home.

DIY Rain Barrel Collection

We’ll start with the cheapest and simplest system: a DIY rain collection barrel. To get started collecting rainwater, all you really need is a storage container. Use a container that is opaque, made of plastic, metal, or wood, and put it under your drainage spout. The container must be opaque so as to not let light in, which could contribute to algae growth.

Make sure your container has a tight fitting lid to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs in your container. Without treatment, this water won’t be safe for use as potable water, but you can easily use it to water your garden and other tasks for which grey-water is sufficient. In this case, you could use use mosquito dunks in the water to prevent mosquitoes.

Do not use mosquito dunks in any water that you are going to use as potable water in the future. Whatever tank material you choose, you should install a spout so that you can actually use the water. This simple system could be upgraded with pumps and filters, but is a great simple system to start out with. You can start with just a simple trash can for your storage bin, or upgrade to an aesthetically pleasing wine barrel for your collection system.

Water Catchment Filtration

While you likely won’t implement a thorough filtration and sterilization system for your DIY rain barrel, you will want some degree of physical filtration. This is probably most effectively done with a mesh screen. When the rainwater runs off of your roof and into your gutters, rocks, dirt, moss, and leaves can go with it.

You don’t want them clogging up your tank or contaminating your water, so it’s best to physically filter them out. It’s also a good idea to keep your roof and gutters well maintained while you are collecting rainwater from them. You can have your roof washed as a service to get off any moss or algae. You should also have your gutters cleaned routinely and consider installing mesh screens on them so that they don’t get clogged with debris.

Rainwater Harvesting

The next big step up from the DIY system is a legitimate rainwater harvesting system. This system will involve an actual built collection and harvest system. As it sounds, this is the most expensive option for water catchment you could do. A specially designed rainwater system for your home could start at from $1,500, but for a real top of the line system you would have to pay at least $15,000 or more. The benefit with doing an actual rainwater collecting system is that it will be better maintained and not be as much of an eyesore as it will be better integrated into your home. It will also maximize the amount of water you get during the year. To make a rainwater system worth it, the rain levels where you live should reach around 24 inches annually.

If you’re going to invest in an advanced rainwater harvesting system, you should also invest in a water treatment system. This system can be built alongside your harvesting system. Even if you just have the DIY rain barrel, you can incorporate water treatment into your rainwater harvest pipeline. The first method of collection that the rainwater experiences is your roof. The most efficient roofing materials for water collection are nonporous ones made of metal. If you have a metal roof on the structure you are collecting water from, make sure to test it for lead. Other more conventional roofing materials, such as wood shakes and asphalt shingles, can absorb some of the water, making the collection less efficient. Depending on what your roof has been treated with, it can leach chemicals into your runoff water. The material of your roof will affect the kind and intensity of filtering you must do to your rainwater.

There are two methods of water treatment:

Microfiltration, which is a physical filter, and UV Sterilization, which depends upon a chemical reaction. UV sterilization uses light to kill bacteria and other contaminants. Most modern systems use a combination of the two methods. Implementing a filtration system like this would be expensive on top of the already expensive cost of the catchment system. Another option is to sterilize the water using chemicals such as iodine and chlorine, although that can alter the taste of the water and poses potential health risks.

Collecting rainwater can be a fun DIY project that is cost-effective and environmentally friendly. You can play around with the aesthetics of your DIY rain collection barrel, and can even find an old wine barrel to use so that it isn’t as much of an eyesore in your backyard. Installing a state of the art harvesting and filtration system is likely cost-prohibitive, but if you are able to do it, the investment will really pay off. Have fun devising your water catchment systems finding what works best, if any, is right for your home!