[Water] Rainwater / Rainfall Collection (merged)

[Armageddon]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050727/D8BJUD083.html

people who dont think the weather pattern is changing and becoming more violent due to global warming need to wake up already

[basketballjones]

whats global warming?

</sarcasm>

[FireJack]

It doesn't matter anymore. Once oil production starts to go into decline the term "greenhouse gas" will dissapear from everyones mind.

[NeoPeasant]

It doesn't matter anymore. Once oil production starts to go into decline the term "greenhouse gas" will dissapear from everyones mind.

Would that be when the coal burning steam trucks are delivering heating coal to our suburban homes?

[Pfish]

37 inches of rain! Wow! Ditch the car and grab the boat. Just out of curiosity what is the record for rainfall in one day for any part of the world?

[sol]

I think that is the record!!!

[savethehumans]

Don't know about world-wide, but the story armegeddon linked us stated that:

India's previous heaviest rainfall, recorded in the northeastern town of Cherrapunji - one of the rainiest places on Earth - was 33 inches on July 12, 1910

So we're talking over 4 inches more rain that INDIA'S previous record. And remember, India (and Pakistan) are those places where monsoons hit every year, putting land and limb underwater on a regular basis. So when INDIA says this is the worst it's ever been. . . .

[Jdelagado]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050727/D8BJUD083.html

people who dont think the weather pattern is changing and becoming more violent due to global warming need to wake up already

This MUST be related to peak oil somehow. Maybe Bush ordered the CIA to send this storm into India to decrease oil consumption....

Hmmmm....

jdelagado

[pea-jay]

It doesn't matter anymore. Once oil production starts to go into decline the term "greenhouse gas" will dissapear from everyones mind.

Would that be when the coal burning steam trucks are delivering heating coal to our suburban homes?

Thats assuming we can access our 300 year supply of coal. That is no small feat given the fact we already are more or less producing at capacity. I am not convince that coal will be that shining knight in black armor riding to our energetic rescue.

[Grimnir]

I think this is less weird than tornadoes in the UK (saw some reports of those earlier). It's normal for India to get deluged this time of year; it's only the quantity that's unusual. However, tornadoes are a qualitatively unusual phenomenon in the UK. Quantitative anomolies can be nothing more than flux in normal patterns; quantitative ones may mean that the patterns themselves are changing.

[brentmeister]

Brazil had a cyclone the other year... that was entirely out of left-field.

[Barbara]

This summer we had those flying insects which eat crops in Africa (dunno in english-one of those byblical plagues). Guess where? In Turin! Northern Italy! A snowy and usually cold city!
TV experts said "it's normal in very hot summers"... NORMAL? Are we sub-saharian Africa or what? We never had those insects in EU!!!!

[Doly]

I had considered many possible ways that climate change could affect the UK, but tornadoes were not one of them.

[I_Like_Plants]

Oh, locusts.

Our First Nations folks used to eat them, and they also traditionally caught and ate grasshoppers in Japan. Our midwest farmers have been known to have cookouts featuring whatever pest is eating their wheat/corn, too. Apparently food taboos are as much a problem as in a lot of other places, in Africa.

Oh yeah there was some guy in the bible who lived on honey and locusts too.

[CARVER]

There are now also mini tornadoes in France. Meteo France has issued a weather alarm for large parts of the country. (It's the first I have heard of these things happening in the UK and France).

[PeakOiler]

As an update since I'm back on the rainwater system, I have only used the city water 3 weeks out of the last 27.

Another update:

I plumbed another 1,550 gallon tank last Saturday. I am up to 6,200 gallons of capacity. Just in time too. Over the last week or so, Central Texas has been getting some much-needed rain. Keep those tropical disturbances coming! I had to use the newest tank to catch some overflow from the other three 1,550 gallon tanks, so I am at about 80% capacity. That's enough to last three months without any rain, and even Central Texas rarely goes that long without rain.
So, I've only used city water for the house three weeks since ca. December 15th, 2004.

[PeakOiler]

As an update since my house is back on the rainwater system, I have only used the city water 3 weeks out of the last 34.

I am getting closer to quitting the city water service.

I am also working on a "Rainwater Collection" essay for Matt Savinar.
Digging up all those old receipts to give a very accurate estimate of a rainwater collection system "on the cheap" for homeowners is taking more time than I thought!
I did spread the ca. $4000 investment over two years after all...

In spite of a rain deficit of about 4 inches here in Central Texas, I currently only have about 4000 US gallons collected.

[skyemoor]

I've been looking at rainwater capture for our large garden and establishing 24 fruit and nut trees. We have a friend who runs a vineyard who says he will give us all the old wine barrels we want, but he's concerned that the leaching of old wine residue back into the rainwater will render it unusable.

1. Is the use of old wine barrels discouraged because of old wine residue 'ruining' the water for irrigation purposes?

2. If not, is the hassle of hooking up 6+ barrels worth it vs. buying a 500+ gallon tank?

If the answer to 1. is 'no', I might even have a 'hybrid' system, where I buy a 500 gallon tank for one section of the yard where the garden and most trees will be, and they put in a couple of wine barrels for the other side of the house where the rest of the trees will be.

We also have sheep, and I'd like to find out if I can capture rainwater for them off the barn roof into wine barrels.

I found an interesting comparison of the different rainwater storage alternatives at http://www.harvesth2o.com/rainwaterstorage.shtml

[shakespear1]

Can it really be that show heads with smaller holes cost more to manufacture than the ones you find in most US homes?

I am forever stupefied that people need to PAY more to try to save. A good gov. should encourage this sort of thing with levers that it has to its disposal.

[PeakOiler]

I've been looking at rainwater capture for our large garden and establishing 24 fruit and nut trees. We have a friend who runs a vineyard who says he will give us all the old wine barrels we want, but he's concerned that the leaching of old wine residue back into the rainwater will render it unusable.

1. Is the use of old wine barrels discouraged because of old wine residue 'ruining' the water for irrigation purposes?

2. If not, is the hassle of hooking up 6+ barrels worth it vs. buying a 500+ gallon tank?

If the answer to 1. is 'no', I might even have a 'hybrid' system, where I buy a 500 gallon tank for one section of the yard where the garden and most trees will be, and they put in a couple of wine barrels for the other side of the house where the rest of the trees will be.

We also have sheep, and I'd like to find out if I can capture rainwater for them off the barn roof into wine barrels.

I found an interesting comparison of the different rainwater storage alternatives at http://www.harvesth2o.com/rainwaterstorage.shtml

There are many ways of collecting and storing rainwater, from oil-based plastics such as HDPE and fibreglass to stone and cement to wood with plastic liners.
Wine barrels are just fine for garden and tree irrigation. After the first rainfall flush of the wine barrels, they will be good-to-go for your garden and trees. Remember water (cloud juice) is in it's purest state (softness) before it hits the ground, (assuming it's not falling through acid and heavy particulate effluents from fossil-fuel burning.) Rainwater will wash away any residual alcohol from the barrels quite readily.
Stone and cement cisterns will leach more inorganics into rainwater than plastic or wood cisterns, ie. metals, including heavy metals.

Rainwater is the universal solvent.

Plastics leach organics. My past experience as a chemist for Continental Water Systems, a former Olin company, which I believe is now owned by U.S. Filter, taught me that polypropylene leaches the fewest organics into very pure water. Much less than wood of course.

My Rainwater Collection Update:
My house has been supplied with rainwater 40 weeks out of the last 43. And this area of Texas still has about a 5-inch rainfall deficit this year.
I currently have about 3000 gallons stored.

I also learned that Germany is way, way ahead of America when it comes to incorporating rainwater collection with building design.

Example: A Volkswagen factory uses rainwater in the construction of the cars. All the employee showers are rainwater-supplied. Many schools and colleges in Germany use rainwater for all of their shower facilities.
Can any German PO.com readers confirm this?

I learned this at the RE Roundup in Fredericksburg, TX last month. The talk was titled "Rainwater Collection-The German Model." See www.theroundup.org