| vrvfarms - 5/5/2025 06:44
We have been collecting rainwater about 35 yrs from 60x105 shed. We built a concrete cistern at one end and flow the gutters that direction. We have put tanks in that shed starting with 1600 gal tank and now up to 14,000 gal in shed beside the approx 5,000 gal cistern. We pump out of cistern as it fills in spring to other tanks. Added benefit is having soft water to wash cars/equipment year round that does not spot. We have hard well water so it spots vs soft rain water.
Cisterns do seem like about the best way to effectively do this. I used to collect rain water from a barn for spraying purposes, but too many headaches involved were my conclusion.
Growing up, a hand dug well near a creek was our water supply for both the livestock and for the house. The house had a hand dug cistern in the basement that during wet periods didn't need to be reloaded from the well, but most the time we'd trickle in from the well with a valve into the cistern and it sure cleaned up the filtered creek water, as the settling time the cistern allowed clarified the house water a lot. The cistern almost always looked crystal clear looking down visually into it which I seemed inclined to do as a kid. The shrubs around the house never had to worry much about a drought, as their roots sure took advantage. |
Collecting rain water from roof to spray with ?
