Catching the rain

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the question of clean drinking water is becoming more important than ever before. Homeowners should save water for a dry patch.

Rainwater harvesting is the collection, storage and distribution of rainwater. The perfect storage facility is a water tank. Harvested rainwater can essentially be used anywhere where tap water is used. The idea of using drinking water to flush toilets and water lawns is wasteful especially in light of water shortages and the dwindling reliability of the national water supply network,

Rainwater can be used for all household purposes, including irrigation, refilling pools, flushing toilets and washing cars.

Harvesting rainwater is easy. Water rain runners are fixed to each of the gutter downpipes to initially harvest the rainwater. This water is fed into rainwater storage tanks, and a pump system is used to pump this water from the rainwater tanks to the house.

STORAGE TANKS

Tank sizes for rainwater storage include 1500lt, 2500lt and 5000lt. Although 10000lt water tanks units are available, this size is very unwieldy.

When considering the size of water tanks, these factors should be taken into consideration:

• What is the rainfall pattern? How much and how often does it rain?

WHERE TO PLACE THE TANK

Water tanks no longer need to stand at a wall under the roof eaves. It is possible to fill a rainwater tank or multiple rainwater tanks without the need for any pumping. Simply make use of gravity to make rainwater harvesting sustainable.

WATER RUNNER SYSTEM

A water runner system will deliver water to any place around a house or garden so long as the head of the water runner system is higher than the head of the tank.

The water runner system is a self-cleaning device placed in your downpipe to send harvested rainwater in an underground pipe to water tanks without any chance of the delivery pipe blocking or clogging in any way.

WATER PRESSURE FOR HOUSEHOLD USE

A pump to pressurise the water for the supply is used to deliver water. The pump starts soon after a tap is turned on and switches off after all taps are closed. This is automatic.

THE WHOLE SYSTEM INVOLVES

• Installing a system to harvest rainwater into each downpipe

• Installation of suitable size and number of rainwater tanks

• A pump to deliver the water to the house. If there is a need for high peak times of water usage, more pumps can be installed in parallel to increase the higher volumes required

• Electrical supply point

• A ball valve to augment supply in the water tanks from municipal mains. This gives an emergency supply at all times

• An override to revert to municipal mains should the rainwater be exhausted

RAINWATER TANK TIPS

• Install gutter mesh to prevent leaves and debris

• Fit enough gutter outlets on the underside of the gutter to prevent obstruction of water flow

• A ‘Leaf Eater’ can be installed onto downpipes

• Use a tank top up system (if required)

• Select a pump system (if required) to distribute water for use inside or outside the home.

On simple systems, gravity will do the trick too.