Pleased to report that we are now HARVESTING RAINWATER!
Just to remind you, here’s the view inside the tank Thursday night before the rain:
And here’s the view on Saturday after an inch of rainfall:
So look at that! Just one inch of rain collected off our roof filled the tank about 2.5′. The highest the water can rise is 4’6″ where the overflow pipe starts channeling water out into the overflow trench. Not bad! (The floaty stuff is plastic shavings… don’t worry, we skimmed those off.)
David has a grand plan to hook up a solar-powered pump to the tank, but until then we’re using a cheapo submersible sump pump…
With the garden hose hooked up to the pump and the whole contraption in hand, David slowly dropped it down into the tank…
He made sure the hose and electrical cord were threaded through the top of the manhole cover, of course…
Then we plugged in the cord and turned on the hose…
And voila! We can now water with rain! *touchdown dance*… *fist pump*… *chest bump*
Tags: garden, green, rainwater collection, sustainable
why the ‘J’ for the inlet? We’re just about to bury our 1700 gallon Ace Roto-Mold cistern and I’m rapidly trying to figure just what I’m supposed to do after we bury it.
Sorry, meant to respond sooner! The J inlet keeps the new water that comes into the tank from disturbing the silt and stuff that settles on the bottom.
[…] been relying on our 1,700-gallon rainwater collection tank to water all of the plants since April. Well… not the grass and not the newly planted 100′-long hillside — those are more […]