Using rain as our water supply

[Qweaver]

We have now been using rain as our water supply for two years and we find it to be a complete sucess.  We have 3800 gallons of storage in 3 tanks.  We have one concrete tank underground and two plastic tanks above ground.  The above ground tanks do get some ice formation around the sides and tops  but we have never run out of water.  This has been an abnormally dry summer and we have always had at least 2000 gallons.  We had a good rain last night and all 3 tanks are full again.  I am filtering the water down to 5 microns but we have not installed the UV treatment yet so we are drinking bottled water but use the rain water for cooking, coffee, tea, dish washing, etc. 
I'd like to freeze-proof the above ground tanks, but I'm not sure how to do that. 

We do practice water conservation but my wife regularly takes 45 gal tub baths unless the water level is low (which it has not been)  We do have a well with good water but little volume.  It is 300' from the house and would require a lot of trenching to get it here.  I'm not sure that I want to go to the trouble of getting it plumbed and wired.
Anyone else using rainwater?

[doctorb]

Interesting!  I don't do it myself, but I think they routinely do in Bermuda.  Are you using just your roof to "catch" the water?  Any other catchment system?  Is the surface of the roof specifically made to do this, or is it regular metal or shingles?

Doctorb

[Ianab]

Grew up with rainwater supply for the house. I think it depends on what your local rainfall is like. In our area we would get about 80" a year, and summer droughts were pretty rare (and no freezing issues). So it worked well. Because it is common-place there are also companies here that will deliver tanker loads of water if you run short.

Never worried about filtering, any roof gunge seems to settle to the bottom of the tank. Just DON'T stir up the tank unless you intend to empty and clean it out.

Ian

[Qweaver]

 Are you using just your roof to "catch" the water?  Any other catchment system?  Is the surface of the roof specifically made to do this, or is it regular metal or shingles?

Doctorb

I'm using about 1/3 of my metal roofs to fill the tanks.  I was going to pipe up more but we don't seem to need them.  If we had kids at home or frequent overnight guests or entertained a lot, I might have to increase input.  

[okie]

Been thinking hard about doing this. We moved a temporary trailer to our land to live in while we work on the house. Thought about hauling water in until the house is done and installing a catchment tank. Nearest neighbors well is 400' deep and not fit to drink. Poor volume  as well. Would cost me a bit more that 5 grand to drill and pump the same type of well as he has. Doesn't seem like a good idea. Do you have any idea how much water you use a week or month? our current water bill doesn't specify.

[Bill]

I'm seeing ads for camping water filters that filter down to around 1 micron ( and recall something about the Romans throwing a silver coin in their cisterns to kill stuff that grows - even some current medical stuff - bandages for burn patients ( ? ) now have some silver I believe ).

Do you have any problems with things growing in your tanks ?

Just curious - around here there's soot/pollen from the sky covering your once clean car on some mornings .

[SwampDonkey]

These old farm houses had cisterns in the basements and drew drinking water from springs. My grandmother's house was spring fed, only dug a well years later after grandmother had passed away and my brother moved in. The same spring fed a second house and the barn trough, which always ran until it froze up in winter. That 4 foot deep white cedar wooden trough froze solid to.

[Ianab]

Just curious - around here there's soot/pollen from the sky covering your once clean car on some mornings .

Like I said, DON'T stir the tank. That random dust etc settles as a layer of mud in the bottom. There should be no light in the tank, so nothing really grows, and you dont have ducks and deer crapping in there to introduce dangerous bacteria.

An underbench water filter for your drinking might be a good idea, but having a shower in that tank water, no worries.

Ian

[doctorb]

Bill-
You are right about the silver issue.  Silver nitrate has been used for years to cauterize and help sterilize granulation tissue on non-healing wounds.  Many available wound supplies are now impregnated with silver and are touted to prevent or help with wound infection.  The science is there to confirm some effectiveness, but silver may not be equally effective against different types of bacteria.  Didn't know that the Romans had a purpose with the coins in their wishing wells!  Thanks.
Doctorb

[jim king]

We used rain as a water supply for several years , two cisterns below ground and an elevated tank. 

There are still about 200,000 people in town using rain water as there is no municipal water in half the town.

[mtngun]

Rainwater here.   We get 22" - 24" precip annually, but a good chunk of that is the frozen kind that cannot be collected.    Nonetheless,  I have never run out of water, and can collect more than I can store.

Currently have a 1200 gallon underground cistern, hope to add another cistern or two when $$$$$ allows.

House water goes through a carbon filter and UV light.   

After a long dry spell, the roof will have dust, pollen, bird poop, etc..    So let it wash off for a good 30 minutes before diverting the water into the cistern.

In cool weather, the roof will have ashes and creosote.   Once again, let it wash off for a good 30 minutes before diverting into the cistern.

Even if you don't want to drink it (tastes better than hard well water) rainwater can be used for irrigation, livestock, flushing toilet, etc., reducing the load on your well.

The water table here is 1000 feet deep.     Wells are expensive, unreliable, and the water quality is terrible.     My rainwater system has worked out well.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Yeah been using tank water here for the last 29 years Mate Got abot 9000gal of storage and don't bother with filters either  Rainfall here is around the 22" pa and we have only had to cart water afew times during the drought 

Regards Chris

[Qweaver]

In the two years that we've been using rainwater we only topped up the tank once.  We only had one 1200 gal tank at that time and we were down to 500 gal and I ran a garden hose from cousin Rodney's house.  Two days later it rained all day.    Now that we have 3 tanks...never a problem. 
When we lived in Aus. we had a friend that lived west of the Blue mountains where it was really dry.  He captured what little rain that they got and he also had a wind powered well that he used to fill his tanks.  It was really poor tasting water tho'.  Safe but hold your nose when you drank it.

[SwampDonkey]

Sulfur I suspect. The folk's water has sulfur. Up here all I notice is lime. You boil a pot on the stove, say some eggs and there is lime on the surface when your done boiling the eggs.

[pigman]

We are using rain water, or as we say, cistern water. We have a 5,500 gal underground concrete cistern. When the four kids were home and we had a long dry spell, I would have to haul a load of water sometimes. Since the kids have left, the cistern never gets below half. We do catch off a 40 X 60 ft building besides the house. A little bird crap and dust just makes the water have a little flavor.   As Ian said, in total darkness nothing green grows.

[Part_Timer]

If you set an Aqua Rain filter on the counter you can then drink the water. 

[Don_Papenburg]

I put in a 6000 gallon fiberglas tank  just catching off one side of the house right now .  But i emptied it when we were spraying this year .  I need to get the 10000 gallon tank in the ground.

[northwoods1]

I'm all for utilizing rain water like everyone here is doing but I'm wondering how much of a factor is the cost/difficulty of drilling a well in you area play into the decision to go this route? Aren't underground storage tanks quite expensive to initially install? I was looking for some type of freeze proof water storage that I could pump to from a well using solar, but the cost of setting the tank up was expensive.

[Qweaver]

I'm all for utilizing rain water like everyone here is doing but I'm wondering how much of a factor is the cost/difficulty of drilling a well in you area play into the decision to go this route? Aren't underground storage tanks quite expensive to initially install? I was looking for some type of freeze proof water storage that I could pump to from a well using solar, but the cost of setting the tank up was expensive.

In answer:  A 1300 gal concrete cistern is $760 delivered and set in the hole. Add another $100 for pipe, fittings and two coats of sealant. I have a backhoe so the hole is "free".  Shallow wells have good quality water here but don't produce much.  Deep holes (100' +) have plenty of water but it is terrible.  City water is $24 a month for 1500 gal and $15 for each additional 1000 gal but we don't like the water.  We would also have had to run 600' of water line.  We had a really cold winter last year and our above ground tanks formed about 6" of ice around the tank but it never froze up so that we were out of water.  We are adding another 1300 gal in-ground tank soon and I'll move one of my plastic tanks down to my mill for washing logs. With tanks, a pump, bladder tank, filters and all of the hardware, I have about $3000 in my system. City water would have been cheaper in the short term and it will take a long time for payback... But we love the soft, sweet, untreated rainwater.

[bill m]

Here in the northeast most of the rainwater is to acidic from midwest factories and is unusable except for maybe watering lawns.