Rain Water Harvesting at Sweet Local Farm

Rain Water Harvesting

Rain Water Harvesting involves collecting and storing rainwater. There are a variety of reasons for harvesting rain water. For the entire user-generated definition, check out Wikipedia’s take on it: Wiki Rain Water Harvesting

We suggest thinking about it from your own standpoint. What are the most common uses that you have for water?

Drinking, Bathing, Laundry, Washing dishes, Watering the Garden, using the Slip and Slide, etc

Now, think about the process water goes through before it ends up in your pipes. It is collected, filtered, purified, enhanced and distributed. This whole entire process requires a lot of energy. Sure, it delivers clean and purified drinking water right to your faucet, but how much of the water we use actually needs to be 100% purified?

Rain Water Harvesting is a great way to stock up a water supply that is usable for 95% of your water needs. There are many different methods for harvesting rain water.

The most lucrative method is to set-up a Roof Catchment System. The basis for this method is simple; the slanted rooftop of a house, barn, garage, or any other slanted-roof structure is already designed to perfectly channel rain water. Water that falls on the entire surface of the roof drizzles down to the gutter, which gets funneled through the downspout.

If you place a barrel under this downspot, Voila! You’re collecting water!

Now, there are a few other factors to consider, such as filtering particles out of the water, channeling the overflow, and preventing insects and algae from entering the barrel. Below is a picture documentary of two rain catchment barrels we installed at Sweet Local Farm, and the measures we took to deal with such factors. These examples of rain water barrels in comparison to other more elaborate systems are more cost-effective and actually involve less work. I know, I know, quite exciting.

The first step is getting barrels. We were fortunate to find somebody on Craigslist who sold them for $18 each. A great price and an even greater way to reuse something. These barrels came from an old candy factory. We made sure they were very clean first…very important.

Next, determine the best spot to place these barrels. The closer to the downspout and the flatter the ground surface the better.

Gather materials. If you have scrap materials left over from other projects, dig through them to see what can be useful. Things to keep your eagle-eye out for: cinder blocks, pvc pipe, valves, hose and wire screen.

For each of these barrels, we did have to purchase a water nozzle. These were only a few dollars each. Chose a nozzle that has a bit of threaded pipe on the connecting side.

To install the nozzle, you will need to drill a hole in your barrel as low down as you can drill. Use a drill bit that is exactly the size of the pipe on the connecting end. In our case, we bought a 3/4″ nozzle, which actually had a 1″ pipe under the threads. Drill the hole through, coat the threads with a plumber’s glue, than twist the connecting end into the hole. It should fit in snuggly and the plumber’s glue should seal it water tight. For additional support, use the plumber’s glue to seal around the edge of where the connecting end of the nozzle and the barrel meet.

Next, create a surface that the barrel will sit on. We found some old cinder blocks that were sitting under our barn. You want to raise the barrel up high enough so a bucket can be placed under it.

Cinder blocks will work the best for this foundation. Avoid using a wood base because its bound to get a nice soaking from time to time. Build the foundation below the downspout of the gutter and place your barrel.

You will most likely have to cut the downspout so it’s length falls to just above the barrel. How you channel that water directly into the barrel is how we suggest getting creative. Here are two ways we were able to channel the water.

On this one, we attached a PVC coupling piece to one of the holes in the barrel. Oh, we should mention that there are two holes in the tops of the barrels we have. Not sure if all barrels come like this, but it surely helps with the design we pursued. We then attached an accordian-style downspout adapter that falls right into the PVC coupling.

Also sitting inside of this PVC coupling is a circular wire screen that would normally be used to stop food particles from going down the kitchen sink. In this case…you guessed it, it is used to stop debris from entering the barrel. We check it periodically and it does a great job catching small insects, dried moss, roof grit and other particles. The screen is easily removed and emptied out.

On the other barrel, we attached a valve that we were able to literally screw into one of the holes on top of the barrel…yes, they have threads in them too!

The valve came from an old project, along with a few feet of hose that was also attached. At the end of the hose, I attached another PVC coupling, again with the wire screen, that sits directly below the gutter’s downspout.

For each of these barrels, a very simple yet efficient overflow system was devised. I’ve seen some people create very elaborate overflow systems. The extent to which you create this system depends on A) where the water naturally flows, and B) where you would like it to flow to. In our case, the ground below each barrel is leaning slightly downward, so any overflow naturally runs away from the building. This is very important because you do not want to intentionally flood your foundation, unless you like water in the basement. Because of this natural flow, we are able to simply allow the overflow to come out of the second hole in the barrel through another wire screen.

This water then comes out on top of the barrel. To avoid having it pool up (those mosquitoes love those pools) we drilled a 1/4″ hole in the rim of the barrel, which allows the water to freely run out onto the ground, and away from the foundation.