Rain water harvesting?

[Abby]

Does anyone do rainwater harvesting to water your plants And or refill your pond? Pros? Cons? System, products, DIY recommendations appreciated! We have a ton of roofline and sporadic monsoons followed by droughts…. Just seems like our situation is a poster child for rain harvesting!

 

[Jagsfan]

Does anyone do rainwater harvesting to water your plants And or refill your pond? Pros? Cons? System, products, DIY recommendations appreciated! We have a ton of roofline and sporadic monsoons followed by droughts…. Just seems like our situation is a poster child for rain harvesting!

i have a single rain barrel (45 gallons) that has a rain gutter diverted to it. Once the barrel is full, it has an overflow pipe that funnels the excess back to the gutter. I use it for watering plants, but not filling the pond. Many people do use rainwater for that though. You just need to be aware of your area's typical rainwater chemistry. Some places rainwater can cause issues if too much is used (so i've heard). Im sure others that use rainwater for pond top off will chime in with their experiences as well.

 

[combatwombat]

I have a 2500 gallon cistern that will have downspouts piped to them. Haven’t gotten that far yet, so can’t say much more about how well it works, but the hope is to significantly reduce late spring/early fall water useage.

 

[Abby]

Do you mind my asking where you got it, the dimensions, and how much it cost?

 

[combatwombat]

Do you mind my asking where you got it, the dimensions, and how much it cost?

Dims: 7x12x4

It’s constructed like a modular system with water matrix blocks but using milk crates. I bought them from a pig farmer for $600. Long story. It’s in my build thread.

 

[Lisak1]

We have 1000 gallons underground. Pond flows over the negative edge into the rain exchange. Sump pump is piped to the underground storage. I wish we had built it 3x bigger!

 

[Mgessert]

Here’s my rain barrel. They are very easy to install. Ignore the netting on top, it’s just to keep the cats from jumping out.

 

[Abby]

We have 1000 gallons underground. Pond flows over the negative edge into the rain exchange. Sump pump is piped to the underground storage. I wish we had built it 3x bigger!

Do you mind my asking what kind of container you have? And the dimensions and cost of it? Thank you so much

 

[combatwombat]

Do you mind my asking what kind of container you have? And the dimensions and cost of it? Thank you so much

Research aquablox rain exchange.

 

[Abby]

@Lisak1 do you have an aqua block rain system as well?

 

[Abby]

We have 1000 gallons underground. Pond flows over the negative edge into the rain exchange. Sump pump is piped to the underground storage. I wish we had built it 3x bigger!

@Lisak1 Do you use it to water the is it open water storage like a retention pond or in a sealed container? garden, refill the pond, other?

 

[Mgessert]

When we lived up north we buried a plastic water tank like this, and drained the metal garage roof into it, pumping it out with a sump pump. We were able to use it year round and watered our horses and plants with it.

500 Gallon 1 Compartment Low Profile Plastic Septic Tank Non-Plumbed 43522

 

[Lisak1]

@Lisak1 Do you use it to water the is it open water storage like a retention pond or in a sealed container? garden, refill the pond, other?

Ours is underground, covered by rock and gravel. The main pond dumps into the rain exchange. The pump lives in a vault that's also in the rain exchange, so submersed, but outside the pond proper. The rain exchange is plumbed to pump back up into the bog, which feeds the waterfall, which flows into the pond, which then dumps back into the rain exchange and so on. I do frequently water from the pond - just a watering can usually, or sometimes a small submersible pump. The pond water is great for my plants and the fresh water that I would use to water the gardens gets put back into the pond.

Our original plan was to water exclusively from the pond, but we quickly learned 1000 gallons isn't as much water as it sounds like, Typically when the rain exchange is full that means we've been getting plenty of rain so they gardens don't really need much, and vice versa. That's why I really wish we had built it bigger!

 

[Lisak1]

And yes - Aquablox and centipede and snorkel.