Catchment and Barrels

 

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Building with ferrocement

 

 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.


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This site was last updated 12/11/05