water

[dennis]

started to collect rainwater this week to save on ro. had lite rain this morning and got 110 gallons from it. looks like everybody will be getting a full bath tommorow

[arleneg]

Lucky you! We haven't had much rain out here in Calif. When it did rain, I didn't get much rainwater. With the rain came the gusty winds. Therefore my large bucket was blown away! Maybe I'll have better luck next rain season.

[pikevi]

Hello dennis,

May I ask you how collect the rain water?

Are you collecting the water from the downpipe?

I have two big containers(plastic), probably 150 litres each (about 40USg).

I like to collect the rain water 'directly' from the rain.

Any advice?, (spring is right around the corner )

[dennis]

i have two 55 gallon drums lined with a plastic bag with the down pipe feeding directly into them. we got the 110 gallons of water today with a light rain for a couple of hours. i dont think you would collect a whole lot by setting the barrell out in the open as you would only get what would fall in your opening

[Kevin Western]

Hi, Here in South Australia, I live in the driest state on the world's driest continent and some of use take to collecting rainwater in a serious way.
I currently have two 10,000 gallon [ 44,000 litre ] rainwater taks and one about 2000 gallon unit [ 8,800 litre ]. We have gutters on all rooves including house, carport and laboratory and every drop of run off goes via PVC plumbing into the tanks that are all interconnected. These are in turn connected to a powerfull pump in case of need for fire-fighting and a domestic pressure pump that can supply water to the lab where it is used to reconstitute tissue culture media, coffee, toilets, shower etc; to the house if I want it there where it is used for drinking, showers, laundry etc; it can also be sent to water the gardens but most importantly it allows me to use rainwater on the orchids both outdoors under shade cloth and indoors in the glass house where it also supplies the evaporative coolers and mister system. We are aware that this state is very prone to drought and with a recent trend to annual rainfall about 75 to 80% of normal we are contemplating an in-ground tank of about 300,00 gallons [ just over 1 million litres ] and with the catchment that could be arranged by placing plastic sheet over our suitable sloping property, I reckon we could get it filled even during a poor winetr rainfall and thus be freed from the limitations of the current water-restrictions
The advantage of rainwater is that it is exceedlingly low in dissolved salts [ , 10 ppm ] and while this is good you, the grower, must supply all essential macro, micro and trace elements [ fertiliser ] including calcium as calcium nitrate and magnesium as magnesium sulphate as well. Basically I recommend that if you can arrange to collect and store rainwater, that is a good thing, especially in places where the local water supply is not good for plants.
Kevin

[pikevi]

Thanks dennis.

I guess it requires a bit of tinkering with the downpipe(s).

kevin western: That is quite a setup you have there. May I know what the daily requirement of water is for your home and lab., approx.? And what is the lowest rainfall you had recently?

I don't need an elaborate system as you have or contemplating to have. But I am very curious about its vialbility on a larger scale for the rest of the world.

Thank you.

I use a child's wading pool. It's about six feet across, and even though it's shallow, it collects a lot of water. The hard part is scooping it out.

[pikevi]

Good idea, orchid126.

But I have a lot of birds that visit my back yard and some ( mourning doves) nest there too.

I have little 'pools' set up for them to bathe and drink. . If they see the big pool they are bound to mess it up too.

I have two lotuses and when I bring them out I have to cover it with chicken wire net. May be that is an idea : to use a net over the pool.

Thank you

[Kevin Western]

Originally Posted by pikevi

Thanks dennis.

I guess it requires a bit of tinkering with the downpipe(s).

kevin western: That is quite a setup you have there. May I know what the daily requirement of water is for your home and lab., approx.? And what is the lowest rainfall you had recently?

I don't need an elaborate system as you have or contemplating to have. But I am very curious about its vialbility on a larger scale for the rest of the world.

Thank you.

Hi,
We have a wet winter and hot dry summer as a general rule.
Where I live the average annual rainfall is about 1 metre per year but for the last few years it has generally been only 80% of that.
Our rainfall is most reliable between May and mid to late September when temperatures are low and evaporation is minimal so evemn with a quite small tank [ 1,000 gallons ] and a pressure pump, the frequency and amount of rain will keep an average 4 person household going without need for use of mains water. More often than not, I can use rain water in the house for absolutely everything all year around as we tend to get just enough rainfall to keep the tanks in a good state. We do have a large house, large sheds, verandahs and carport and all gutters run into the tank system. There is enough slope on the property that the rain has a natural fall to the tanks. If that were not so then I would set up a receiver tank near the hose etc and set it up to automatically pump that to the main storage tanks elsewhere.
We then have a septic tank + a sand bed filter to recover all the sewage and waste water which then waters the fruit trees. WEe have a 1 acre block and both my wife & I are keen gardeners so there is quite an amount of water needed from the mains supply during our hot, dry summer. There are currently restrictions on use of mains water so we occasionally switch over to rain water when a particular plant or garden area appears to be suffering.
We need 1.2 million litres per year but that does not mean that we have to have 1.2 million litres in storage as some of the year rainfall and input far exceeds consumption. I reckon we need about 800,000 litres storage to be self sufficient all around in all but the very worst of years.
In the lab, we use water for a toilet, floor washing, autoclaves, hand washing, media makeup, cleaning of utensils and tools, rewashing of used flasks, coffee etc. I havent a clue as to actual volume but it is not great. Watering orchids in the green-house and shade house would be significant but again I have no idea of actual amount. On the odd occasion during a long dry period I have had the tanks reach almost empty when mains water had to be substituted but shortly after that we had about 1.5 inches [ about 4cm ] of rain over a few days that filled the tanks again.
You would be surprised how much nicer rain water is than mains supply. We dont even worry to filter it or remove leaves or clean the tanks and we don't bother to boil the water before drinking it. We and our visitors never have any health problems attributable to the water.
Regards,
Kevin Western

[Anton]

Just to add to Kevin's post Adelaide has gone 56 days without rain which is a State record. The whole country is in a one in a hundred year drought. WATER IS PRECIOUS TO US IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA!

I have just this weekend connected my garage to a water tank, and already have a small 3,000 gallon tank connected to the house downpipes.

Like Kevin, I am contemplating installing an underground tank to hook up to the house. A lot of households are now also recycling "grey water" that which comes from washing machines, the bath and wash basins to use on their gardens.

[pikevi]

Thank you Kevin Western, for taking the time to explain.

To me it appears to be a colossal setup that you have.

My interest was really not for myself. Your system may help some people in some parts of the world.

In spring we get lots of rain. But most go 'wasted', since there are laws here for 'grading' the land. Of course they ened up in our lake system, along with phosphates and other chemicals.

I like to collect some for use on orchids and I hope to come up with a simple set up. But with the exponential growth in the number of plants I am currently adding to my collection it may not feasible to collect enough rain water.

Anton: Good luck with your project.

Pikevi, I have doves and birds in my yard, too. They don't seem to go into the wading pool. They like the bird bath much better. I think it's because it's very shallow, whereas the pool is deeper. But a screen of some sort over the pool is a good idea. Perhaps even shade cloth would do the trick.

[pikevi]

Thanks Orchid126.

I will try to collect some rain water. It may not be enough to water all my orchids but at least I can use it on mounted orchids

[Anton]

My orchids have never had anything BUT rainwater, if it's good enough for us to drink, it's good enough for them.

The rest of my wife's pot plants get tap water,..... that's all they deserve. (He says, knowing full well she won't see this post.)

[fzzdk]

Originally Posted by Anton

The rest of my wife's pot plants get tap water,..... that's all they deserve. (He says, knowing full well she won't see this post.)

lol you're a terrible husband :P

that'll teach her to deny you a greenhouse!

[Anton]

Deny me a REAL Green House, not just a "pretend" one.

ONCE I get my New one, I will be leaving the hole I have dug with this one, and using it as a water feature.

Got to plan ahead.