To
catch water for my system I installed gutters on one half of my house.
It wasn't necessary to do the whole house because we get so much rain in the
winter.



One area had a 3 in. tall barrier along the edge to prevent water from
falling, so I was able to avoid putting gutters across this area, and
instead put downspouts at either end of the barrier.

Though all the gutters are connected to each other, The catchment area is
roughly divided into three sections, one for each downspout and storage
area. The water flow to the downspouts is controlled by providing a slope of
one quarter inch per foot. The water from the left side of the roof is
funneled along the fence across the yard and into the pond using salvaged 2
inch P.V.C. pipe. The downspout is flexible 2 inch plastic tubing. The
placement of the pond was chosen for convenience and to minimize the amount
of energy needed to pump the water to the trees and beds around it.



The water from the second section is stored in a 200 gallon barrel
which is mounted a stand so that gravity can convey the water to the plants.
The water from the back side is funneled into 2 150 gallon barrels on the
right side of the house, which are mounted in stands so that gravity conveys
the water down the hosed to the plants. The barrels are reused,
so two of them needed to be patched using plumber's solder to plug tiny
holes.

