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Collecting Your Own Rainwater Supply. Requested Topic.

Keith

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Age
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We have 4 rainwater tanks for the main house (Linstock), the main house garden & the main house outside laundry. The same 5000 gallon tank that feeds the outside laundry also feeds Elm Cottage via a 12 volt pump under the cottage. Both houses are solar powered.
Water_tanks_REDUCED.jpg
The lower cement 5000 gallon water tank is fed from the roof of the main house via down pipes from both the front & the rear of the house. The water from this lower tank is then pumped up to the higher tank which gravity feeds the main house.
Water_Pump_REDUCED.jpg
This pump is also a fire pump, it draws water from the stop cock on the side of the lower tank & pumps it up to the higher tank via a pipe that runs underground.
First_flush_pipes_on_main_tank_REDUCED.jpg
This image shows the two "first flush" pipes on the lower tank. Any dirt on the roof or in the gutters is washed into these two pipes. When full, a ball float in the pipe rises to the top closing off these tow pipes & allows the rest of the water to flow into the tank. Over time, the water in these pipes is supposed to slowly run out via the hoses at the bottom, but invariably the small hole blocks with dirt, so every now & then I remove the bottom of the pipes, drain & wash out the filters.
Water_tank_overflow_002_REDUCED.jpg

Water_Tank_Garden_REDUCED.jpg
The garden tank was placed on higher ground to the level of the garden so it would gravity feed better, but this meant that it was too far away from the house to use an overhead down pipe to fill it from the roof at the end of the house. So I run the down pipe underground then back up into the top of the tank.
Water_Tank_Elm_Cottage_REDUCED.jpg

Laundry_Water_Tank_003_REDUCED.jpg
This is the new 5000 gallon poly tank that feeds the outside laundry, & Elm Cottage. This tank is fed from the roof of Elm Cottage, but the ground close to the cottage was too soft to provide a firm base for the tank, so we placed it on higher ground. Again this meant that the tank was too far away to use overhead down pipes, so again the pipe to the tank from the cottage roof was placed underground then back up & into the top of the tank. The other pipe you can see is an overflow pipe which I have run into a water butt.

Keith.
 
Dam_Flats_REDUCED.jpg
This is what we call Cattail Pond. This is actually a dam we had put in in Butterfly Valley to collect & store more water from the header stream for fire fighting & to feed both house gardens via another fire pump. It also allows us to keep fish for food & it attracts lots of wildlife & game. We have two more dams, one small one in a paddock at Ticklepenny Corner, & another to the West in Fox Valley.
Keith.
 
Wow, Keith. l wasn't planning anything as big as this, maybe one tank only. Trouble is, l know l will have to be careful as just about anything here seems to need planning permission. We have a neighbour on the opposite side of the valley who l know keeps an eye on what we are doing here. He is a sheep farmer so is always outside. A previous owner planted a lot of conifers and they are just reaching the height where they are beginning to screen us out so l may have to be patient. l have also been considering how to get a tank to our property and have decided it will have to come via our back entrance which has the advantage of being more private. Drinking water we will get from the spring which was the original supply to the house but some summers did not provide enough for washing, laundry, garden etc so someone put in the borehole. Thanks for the info.
 
yea wow Keith that is a great set up , and an interesting topic ,I would like to know how people can do this
at a smaller level , where not many of us have that amount of land to work with.

I would be think the problems would be

1 where to get the water / rain fall, spring, river, ect
2 how to store the water / and how much
3. how to move the water to the right place /

all these problems will be different, according to the geography of your surroundings
 
Very nice Keith. A like the set up mate. What kind of fish do you keep in your pond ?
 
Very nice Keith. A like the set up mate. What kind of fish do you keep in your pond ?
Catfish Mark, they don't need moving water to breed. However, the cormorants, cranes & herons are regular visitors, so I don't know if there are many if any left!
Keith.
 
Catfish Mark, they don't need moving water to breed. However, the cormorants, cranes & herons are regular visitors, so I don't know if there are many if any left!
Keith.



Very hardy species Keith. And offer a little fun when fishing for them. It's a very nice place you have there mate. And we'll set up may I add
 
Very hardy species Keith. And offer a little fun when fishing for them. It's a very nice place you have there mate. And we'll set up may I add
Thank you Mark, the work goes on. Always more work to do round here.
Keith.
 
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