Rainwater Collection & Harvesting Systems
harvesting
systems - design
installation - service
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Rainwater Collection & Harvesting Systems harvesting
systems - design
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"Unlimited
drinking on the west coast: rain water collection works in real life."
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 8,300 gallon corrugated steel storage tank |
"We had planned the water supply for the new house around a well. Although both neighbours have good wells, we drilled and hit a fetid and clouded salt spring instead, whose water impressed even the lab with its unpotability. Short term disaster, but long term gain: we turned to The Rainwater Connection for help in finding another source of water, and ended up with a fully functional rain water harvesting system designed by Bob to meet the needs of our three-bedroom home year-round. We have been deeply pleased with the results. The system is robust, being gravity fed. It is simple, as it uses no moving parts except for the pump that pressurizes the house water system. It provides top quality water, a result of four efficiently designed stages of roof washing, debris catching, screening, and UV treatment. It has no chlorination, water softening, smelly water, corroding appliances, or scaly pipes. For our one-storey house, it involves about the same amount of maintenance as washing and vacuuming your car once a month. And last but not least, even conservative cost analysis shows a payback period for the system that is measured in years, not decades, meaning that the cost of water then becomes a few per cent of what it is in most municipal systems. |
| And it’s all thanks to one of the last free, untaxed, and for now almost unlimited commodities on the west coast of British Columbia: distilled water from the sky. It is clear that we cannot possibly use all the rain water available during a year’s total precipitation at our location. Everyone’s mileage will vary, but we will not run out of house water unless the climate changes to make the “wet coast” a desert like the Okanagan, something unlikely to happen along the Pacific Ocean for some time to come, no matter what the speed of climate change (and whatever its causes). Our present storage was designed by Bob to make it through about 100 days without precipitation. We know that if we need more water, for example for more ambitious gardening or even to just sleep better knowing it’s sitting there, all we need is more storage; the collection system can provide much more, as shown by the overflow state of our cistern as early as November this season. So we’ve got plans for a wood-fired hot tub: more free water fun. |
 pneumatic water level indicator |
 sump pump & float valve |
Are we sold on rain water collection? No prizes for guessing the correct answer. Using rain as the water in your life falls into the same deeply satisfying category as using only wood to heat your home: you’re off the grid, or barely using it. Yes, these options are most easily chosen in rural settings, and when it comes to wood smoke, emissions become a problem beyond a fairly low population density. But anyone with a roof over their head can collect rain water in the extraordinary environment of coastal British Columbia and make it work." Philippe Erdmer, Salt Spring Island |
 underground piping connects to FFD and gravity filters before entering cistern |
 thermostatic light in winter box |
 Debris pails at each downspout |
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Mail: |
Phone:
250-246-2155 E-mail: info@rainwaterconnection.com |
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| Copyright The Gulf Islands Rainwater Connection Ltd 2010 | |
