Go Green – Harvest your own rain water!

I have decided to go green, but the problem was how I could go green to reduce my carbon footprint?

Most "go green" gadgets out there are very expensive, examples are solar water heating, solar panels, wind turbines, inverters and biodiesel or green batteries. It seems that someone wants to make it impossible for the general population of the world to go green, except the rich.

I then looked at the option of building my own wind generator but as expected, it was too expensive for me and I lacked the neccesary skills.

I read an article about rain water harvesting. Rain water harvesting an eye-opening article, I decided there and then. It sounded refreshing and challenging and would also fit my pocket.

Where to start?

• First: I decided that a water tank will be the best option, then to buy one and to work from there.

There are hundreds of different water tanks available on the market today and here in South Africa we have the "JOJO" range of water tanks, my choice.

• Second:
• What size of tank to buy?
• New tank or secondhand tank?
• What are you going to do with the water you harvest?
• What space do you have?
• Under-ground tank or service tank?
• Clear or green colored tank?

These were some of my concerns and I decided to go for a secondhand tank, which had glue in it. I paid the guy and off we went to go clean up my new water tank.

This was my first mistake, in cleaning this tank, we used everything we knew but still the old glue smell wouldn’t go.

We couldn’t use this water for human consumption but for gardening only, so I decided to buy a new 2200lt JOJO green water tank. I later discovered that a clear water tank will go green and the water will go off quicker than a darker colored tank.

The problem in transporting a 2200lt water tank on a trailer was a mission in itself but some places deliver tanks to your home.

I got a place for my new tank and then had to work out a way to harvest the rain water?

• The standing place for your tank must be a cement block or something solid, because 2200lt off water is 2.2 tons. It must be water-leveled to ensure that the water in the tank is evenly distributed, to protect the tank.
• Underground tanks are out of sight but it needs a massive hole to be dug, if you are the sporty type, that is the best way to go. Soil keeps the water cold and fresh for longer use, but this method not always practical to install.

I went back to the internet and saw some interesting gadgets that people all over the world are using to harvest rain water. I decided to go for collecting water from my house roof. Off I went to the local hardware store to buy waste pipes and connectors. I then took off my existing guttering and replaced it with white waist piping leading into the JOJO tank.

Excited for the first rains to fall, I was interested (for the first time in my life) at the weather report, to see if it is going to rain the next day. I didn’t have to wait too long for the first rains. Here in Johannesburg, South Africa we have summer rain and it is +- 250mm rain per year average, so we are seen as a dry country. Water harvesting was a good choice.

The first rains came and all my piping was washed away or blocked by the first waters. This water was unusable because of mud, bird droppings and leaves that came from the roof.

I was disappointed but I learned from my mistakes.

Back to the internet I went and I saw that you must have a leaf and dust filter. I decided to build my own with plumbing pip from my local hardware store. This filter works, in that the first stream of water go into the filter pip and when it fills up, a valve closes the dirty water from the clean water and then it could go into your water tank.

I fastened all the loose ends, set the filter in place waiting for the rain. It worked just fine after the second rainfall of the season. The tank filled up faster than I expected and I felt a sense of accomplishment.

A tank full of water and a question in my heart, what to do with the harvested water?

I used the water for watering my plants but it is labor intensive and I had to a better use for the water, a more effective way to use it.

I made a study of what uses the most household water and saw that it is the bath, toilet and then our washing machine.

Toilets use much more water than what we realise and you could save a lot by following the simple rules. When flushing yellow, only let half the cistern empty into the bowl, then lift the handle. You do not need a wholo cistern to flush urine down. When flushing brown, let the cistern empty into the bowl. You can actually save a lot more water than you realise in this way.

Because the water in my water tank is not filtered properly I decided to use it to supply the toilets with water.

Now the problem was to get the water to the toilets?

Scratching in the garage I found an old Koi submersible water pump, (still working) and an old 150lt plastic drum. I connected the submersible to the plastic drum with some black water 10mm pipe.

Connecting the 150lt drum to the toilet, with some copper plumbing pipe and placing the drum on top of my garage roof, so that the water could run into the toilet by itself.

I have improved my system over time in that I have now added a floating switch to it and when the drum is full, it automatically switches the submersible pump off. This saves me from having to fill the drum manually every day.

The 2200lt tank was not sufficient, so I had to by another two tanks, 1100lt and a 1500lt that is connected with gravity feeding the larger 2200lt tank.

We have been using rain water in our toilets from January 2011 and have not needed to reconnect our toilets to the counsels water supply. Today is the 19 of July 2011, the middle of South Africa’s winter, and I still have 2200lt of water left.

This system also helps me to go to my knees and thank God for rain and also to ask Him for more.

We have saved a tremendous amount of water and I am now in the procces of placing proper filters in the system to make the water fit for human consumption, but that is a new go green project.

I have realized that by going green, that I can do my part in saving water and I feel good doing so.