Saving Rain Water

[woodpile]

New to the site. First Post
My garage is 24x32 and i collect the rain water in 3 large tanks to water the yard. See attached picture. I was wondering if anybody can tell me how to collect water into 3 tanks without having to pump from one to the other. I find this a pain in the neck when it's raining hard.

 

[Kemo]

how close are the tanks together? it seems to me that you could put a pvc based balancing system in there to insure they all fill up before over flowing.
i did a simplistic diagram. gravity would do the rest.

 

[JoeMopar]

How large are the tanks ( gal. ) and how close are they to one another, and are they close to being the same elevation to one another?

Basically what Kemo said.

 

[trainwreck]

To add onto what Kemo said, the pipes wouldn't even need to be near the top of the tanks, would they? Water seeks its own level, so no matter where you put the pipes, all three should keep water at the same elevation (though not necessarily at the same height.) If anything, keeping the pipes lower would keep the tanks' levels closer to one another. The downside would be an increased trip hazard. If you were concerned about that, you could use garden hose instead of pvc, and just bury the hose.

 

[woodpile]

My tanks are not that close right now but plan to get them together in the spring. Once i get some ideas than i will get parts required and go from there.
The tanks are one 1000 gal tank like a fuel tank and two 500 gallon square tanks.

 

[CatchAll_shop]

The Family Handman mag ran an article on building a rain barrel. Here is the link in their project archive:
http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-Projects/Green-Home/Saving-Water/how-to-build-a-rain-barrel
I thought this was a pretty good system, even though I'm yet to build one. I hope this helps-Kevin

 

[SM Racing]

Hope your not in Colorado. IT is illegal to capture rain water there.

 

[Grumpy365]

Here are some other threads that kind of pertain to this topic.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16079&referrerid=47711

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81433&referrerid=47711

Good luck.

 

[csp]

Hope your not in Colorado. IT is illegal to capture rain water there.

Not completely. New legislation passed in 2009 which allows certain landowners whose water supply is a well to harvest rainwater for uses defined in their well permit. A separate permit is issued after a number of qualifications are met. This rainwater permit is required for legal harvesting of rainwater in Colorado.

 

[6768rogues]

2000 gallons of water is not a lot of water unless you have a small yard. At my farm, I have a well pump by the pond and water my small garden. It takes 3 hours to put an inch of water on the garden. At home, I have municipal water and 2000 gallons is about $6 worth of water. I look at it this way-if we are having a dry spell, I have to water the garden once a week. I would use the tank water up quickly unless rain filled the tanks again. Then again, if it rained enough to keep the tanks filled, I wouldn't have to water.......

 

[Zeke]

Hope your not in Colorado. IT is illegal to capture rain water there.

And the reason for this is....?

 

[KrisKustomPaint]

how is capturing rain illegal? What crazy reasoning is behind this?

 

[bmwohio]

And the reason for this is....?

how is capturing rain illegal? What crazy reasoning is behind this?

+1....you would think that is 'green' and would be encouraged??

 

[KrisKustomPaint]

well I looked it up on wikipedia and I don't understand it any more than I did before. Prior apropriation law, sounds like bs to me. Its rain.

 

[larry_g]

Water in the past and future has always been something that means sucess or failure. Some water rights are hundreds of years old. My water rights that are many years old means that those up stream cannot capture water if it deprives me of adaquate water. That is what is driving the CO laws. Read up on wht latest water fights in the Klamath Basin of Oregon. States fighting over water. Environenmentalists, fisherman, and farmers all fighting over the same water.

For the OP If the tops of ypur tanks are all on the same level then connections between are easy, just connect the bottoms. If the tanks are different heights then you will have to take the highest tank and cascade it into the next, then into the lowest. You will then have to connect the exits and and valve each one so they do not equalize with each other and loose water out the top of the lower tanks.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Grumpy365]

+1....you would think that is 'green' and would be encouraged??

Because you don't own the rain, the state does.

If you siphon it off there won't be sufficient water for the streams and aquifers.

The links in my previous post indicate it may also be illegal in PA.

 

[trythis]

Crazy thing in St Louis City, MO: New construction requires capturing rain water from your roof. It is not allowed to run into the drains. !!!

Of course that is because our sewers and rain water share the same tube and are often over 120 years old and they cant handle all the water that would naturally go into the ground. No water shortage here.

 

[woodpile]

Thanks for all the info.What amazed me is the fact that there are things like well permits and laws against rain water collecting.
I bet people in parts of the world that are flooding would love somebody to take their water.
when the 3 feet of snow is gone in my yard I will be hooking my tanks together

 

[jeepnut24]

And the reason for this is....?

We don't own it, the state does....

 

[csp]

The state doesn't own it either. Those with water rights downstream own it. Sure the state has some of the water rights, but it's way more complicated than that.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Question:

Has anyone used captured rainwater to wash their cars? Seems like that might be an eaiser matchup. It rains. The car gets dirty in the rain. Guess I need to wash it. Luckily the rain filled my rain barrels!

I've tried my well water to wash my cars and they come out covered in lime residue.

I wonder how much water it takes to wash a car. Normally I go through about 5 to 10 gallons in my bucket, but I'd say several times that much rinsing. Would 150 gallons be out of the question?

Phil

 

[milkovich]

Collecting water should be 100% legal. The quality of the water and the method of disposal should be regulated so people (farmers) aren't spewing filth, and utility companies aren't trucking everyone's water to California so movie stars can water their lawns (unless the local principality gets a cut of the proceeds).

Then again, that's way too obvious.

 

[KEH]

Don't forget, they have to keep Las Vegas golf courses green so they have to keep the Colorado river flowing.

KEH