Rainwater Harvesting System Installation

[DaniaOMGWania]

your puppies are so involved :)

nice system

[iws2004]

@DaniaOMGWania Thanks!! The homeowners's dogs were very interested in what we were doing!

[lamaison1966]

Nice. Ladders weigh more than the tanks.

[iws2004]

@lamaison1966 Well, I would say that the tanks weighed more than the ladders but having a lot of hands available to push the big tanks around certainly helps.

[JBea1988]

Wow those are some massive tanks! We have 2 smaller tanks that each hold 540 gallons. They don't hold as much as the tanks in this video, but they're still functional and very attractive. Check out LivingRainwaterTanks . com.

[supersesqui]

Great installation. Did the birdsong tape come with the barrels or some other item of equipment ?

[iws2004]

@supersesqui Thanks!! The birds where the actual birdsongs during installation. We sped up the video and laid the original speed audio on top of the video. It was a nice effect.

[rb21122b]

Good stuff. My house is on well water and its all yellow and smells like crap. I could use one of those things, especially in Florida where we have no shortage of rainfall.

[iws2004]

@rb21122b If you are interested in a system like this, you should check out WaterTec Solutions in Florida at savefreewater:com.

[Export2Africa]

It will take innovation to reduce water scarcity worldwide.

[pir8bill]

@Export2Africa How does this system reduce water scarcity?

[ifarcast]

Aww yeah off the water grid son!

[wrsusa]

Great Work but if you need a Filter let me know

[angryadrien]

Good video! Did anyone else notice how the two dogs kept herding the humans to ensure they kept working? Can't let them humans take a break! Keep working!

ha ha!

[happygameshow]

great work! but wow those tanks must cost a pretty penny.

[iws2004]

@happygameshow Actually aboveground polyethylene tanks are the cheapest cost per gallon tanks available.

[FluffyBalls009]

@iws2004 how much did they cost each?

[iws2004]

@FluffyBalls009 At the time, these 3000 gallon tanks cost about $1500 each.

[FluffyBalls009]

@iws2004 for 1500 dollars i can pay my water bill for 3 years lol

[amusingisthedawn]

@FluffyBalls009

If you plan on keeping a house and handing it down, doing things like this and solar will benefit the younger generations greatly.

[FluffyBalls009]

@amusingisthedawn -__- The goverment wont let us use water powered cars made from japan cause it will ruin the economy of precious oils" Fuck the younger generations, we should riot about this bullshit

[mpanegos]

thats what EVERYONE should be doing.. and this would mean.. NO NEED TO conserve.. water RAINS on us al the time.. and that water is to be used for our NEEDS.. to have our crops grow to keep us alive..

[austinkathi]

Because our "soil" is mainly solid limestone in Central Texas, most folks have above ground tanks. You can do all kinds of things with them- the Dripping Springs library's tank is painted to look like a turtle, which is fun. Another neighbor has lattices around his, with vines growing on them. Ours is a bit away from our house, with "cedar" trees all around, so that it is barely visible.

Rainwater is great & so tasty!

[iws2004]

@austinkathi Thanks for the post about the possibilities when it comes to "dressing up" a rainwater collection system. We have done a lot of different things with our systems over the years.

[nonenone41]

I think the water will flow in the drain pipe because the drain pipe goes straight down and the pipe to the tank is on one side. The thing will work only if the direct pipe goes to the tanks and the by pass is given to drain

[sujaysukumar123]

You guys did a great thing for planet earth. I'm from India, (currently in Sunnyvale, CA on a short business trip), and I think everybody regardless of where they are, need to be greatful to people such as yourself for your conservation measures. Way to Go! Bravo!

[iws2004]

@sujaysukumar123 Thank you very much for the compliment.

[HiWay69s]

what an eyesore!! why not buried the damn things??

[iws2004]

@HiWay69s To each his own, right? The main reason not to bury these "damn" things is cost. Installing 9000 gallons of storage volume underground here in central Texas would have cost 2-3 times more than this aboveground system cost. We have rock very close to the surface due to the karst geology here. In addition, underground tanks are much more expensive than their aboveground equivalents.

[Nekosys]

@iws2004 eyesore or not, all that matters, is that it's collecting 9,000 gallons of water. If it's that deep, build a sexy shed to house them but make a large doorway so it'll be easier to take the tanks out ;-)

[Nekosys]

wait, didn't you connect the 1st tank to the last two so they all can be equally filled up?

[iws2004]

@Nekosys Yes we did connect all the tanks in series through a 2" pipe at the bottom outlet of each tank. This will allow them to equalize.

[Nekosys]

@iws2004 ok. i guess?

[TheHossUSMC]

make sure you paint that pvc or it will become brittle

[iws2004]

@TheHossUSMC Yes, we did paint the PVC. Very important!!

[Nekosys]

I feel bad for those who not only live in places where it doesn't rain at all but, they have to pay an arm and a leg to get municipal water. smh.

[DigitalSkyline]

Why only 9,000 gallons? wow... That's a little nuts ( and cool too! )

[iws2004]

@DigitalSkyline The homeowner didn't want any tanks sticking out from behind his metal building. After this project and seeing the amount of water he saved, the homeowner has since added 16,000 more gallons to the system. He added another structure which helped to increase his rainwater yield. But once you start collecting rainwater, you wonder why you hadn't been collecting your whole life.

[DigitalSkyline]

@iws2004 I was being facetious... but that's amazing!

[iws2004]

@DigitalSkyline I know but I also wanted to get out the information about this particular client's desire for rainwater collection.

[lordstiles]

What size pvc pipe are you using for the first wash diverter 3" or 4"? I guess I need to calculate the area and rainfall to see if I need 3 or 4 inch pvc to ensure of complete "first wash" before it enters my cistern. Any suggestions? Great video!

[iws2004]

@lordstiles We used 3" pipe on this system. The question of first flush is one of the hardest to answer. You will find a wide range of formulas on the web from various researchers around the world. It depends on many variables such as the amount of roof area & the potential contamination sources (trees or even nearby farms, etc).

Since this system is only for irrigation purposes, the first flush idea becomes a little less important than if you installing a system to supply potable water.

[backwoods223]

Sorry if this question was asked already but how was the middle tank hooked up?

[iws2004]

@backwoods223 The 3 tanks are connected in series by a 2" pipe at the bottom of each tank. This allows all of the tanks to share volume even though you may only have a single rainwater inlet to the tank system.

[JesterDev]

Great video, thanks for uploading it. This system is a bit large for me, but gives me some great ideas.

I also love how to dogs are so interested in whats going on. :)

[iws2004]

@JesterDev Thanks for the compliment!!!

[chemlight9000]

That was a really cool video. I am interested in getting a rain harvesting system for our house to basically have a stock pile of water in an disaster type of situation. Is there a general price range I can expect to pay for something like that?

[iws2004]

@chemlight9000 You can most likely plan on a $2.00-$3.00 per gallon price range if you have a contractor install the system for you. If you do it yourself, and only account for materials, then you could get away with installing the system for about $1.00 per gallon. There are a lot of variables in these price estimates. In addition, water cisterns get cheaper per gallon as you go larger. So if you want to install a cost-efficient system, max out your budget with the largest tank possible.

[MrColt45acp]

Too cool!

Thanks for posting.

[theadman024]

does the plastic in those containers leech over time?

[iws2004]

Well, these tanks are made with FDA approved plastic and are used in well water systems all over the country. The plastic could leach into the water over time, but there are not many inexpensive options for water storage out there. Again, all we can fall back on is the approval that these tanks are fit for potable water storage. Now, this system was for irrigation-only but a valid concern anyway.

[rickbar123]

i have family in texas- they do everything big as well

[iws2004]

This may even be considered a "small" system in

Texas. We have installed upwards of a 40,000 gallon systems that are used for drinking water purposes.

[beaugh2]

This question may have already been posed, but what are the tanks made of?

[iws2004]

These tanks are made of polyethylene.

[willywild111]

where is the over flow pipe?

[iws2004]

From the vantage point of the video, you can't see them. In addition, we hadn't installed them during this video. The overflow comes out of the top bulkhead in the tank and has pipes that run down the side of the tank and connect together to run out away from the rainwater tanks. The overflow bulkhead is located on the side of the tank that is facing the wall.

[cochranexyz]

It is amazing how quickly rainwater will fill a barrel! I've rigged up a small system with trash cans and spigots--nothing fancy; just for our garden. Buying some larger food-grade barrels soon for an additional catchment system from another downspout. Where was this filmed?  Worried about the water freezing come winter?

[iws2004]

This was filmed in Austin, Texas where we get about 32 inches of precipitation annually. We don't have to worry about water freezing in central Texas, especially in large cisterns such as these.

[pzIkmwusjc]

back in Poland where i use to live everybody had water wells made of stone about 30 feet deep water is filtered through a lot of coals, sand etc. ready to drink. and on the outside they look beautiful. the one we had was 6' wide made of stone.

[mslise4]

It just amazes me how the US is so behind in conservation. I have been living in Thailand the past 4 yreas and this is the only way we get water. Thai's have used rainwater for Hundreds of years. I have no water bill at all, just the cost to run a pump to our 2nd floor. We Americans really need to start thinking about how we are contributing to the Earth.

[bellaggio1770]

I place large plastic waste bins under the roof edge (rain gutter clogged) and collect 100s of gallons of water in no time.

It doesn't necessarily have to be expensive, huge or complex to make a difference.

[iws2004]

You are absolutely correct, but when we have a client who wants to collect a massive amount of water and will pay us to install a larger system for them, then we will do it. This system will collect 30,000 gallons of rainwater during an average rainfall year. The problem in central Texas is the rainfall patterns... we get most of our rainfall in large events. If you don't have larger storage volume, then most of the water will just overflow the system.

To each his or her own...

[bellaggio1770]

If you wonder what happens when one thinks exclusively with his wallet, look at where we are today. We need to look beyond 3 inches and have our brains register the information that we are not only running out of water, but that transporting and pumping water costs a spectacular amount of energy as well.

[akaMrVideo]

Thanks for posting this video

[RCvolunteer1978]

We are a THREE YEAR Drought here in Florida many parts have had flooding do to rain while other locations had only 1/2 inch of total rain fall there is two cities over 20,000 people that has no drinkable water for over a week in the SW part of Florida

[bellaggio1770]

Sounds crazy eh? If Floridians would collect the water runoff from their roofs when it rains, they could have enough water for months. Our civilization has to change its old wasteful ways and stop taking every resource for granted.

[RCvolunteer1978]

in some cities in central Florida will not allow rain barrels insight from the street also homes can not have gardens producing seasonal crops to have open earth showing weeks at a time ...

[bellaggio1770]

That's quite disturbing to hear, especially since the state is facing a drought. I suggest you write to your local councilman, mayor, and the Governor of Florida (who thankfully is an environmentalist).

[iws2004]

This client really wanted to make sure he had enough water. He certainly had the roof area for collection so this was just something that he wanted to invest in. He feels that water rates will be increasing drastically in the near future.

[iws2004]

The other tanks are connected in series (pipe connection at bottom of tanks) so the water level in each one equalizes.

This system cost around $8,000 at the time (2004). The tank costs alone was over half of this cost.

[letsgoandhavesomefun]

Yes, I Agree, a very good video =]

I didn't realise that the rainwater collecting units were so big !

[iws2004]

Rainwater cisterns come in all different sizes from very small to very large.  It really just depends on the area you have to devote to the the cistern placement and your budget. Thanks for the compliment.

[pdonathan]

This is a great video. It goes right to the point of installation only. I like how you did it in fast motion for 3 minutes vs a ten minute boring video of the exact same content. Thanks!

[markwy1]

What about bird poop..........?

[iws2004]

The first bit of rainwater off the roof is diverted in a poor man's roof washer. There is a length of pipe below the gutter downspout hole that fills up with rainwater before the water rises to the elevation of the pipe that drains to the top of the rainwater tanks. You see this in the video where we pulled off the existing downspout and replaced it with a PVC pipe system. The poor man's roof washer has a drain valve at the bottom to drain off the first flush after each rain event.

[cmcneill]

One thing I'm not too wild about is that they blocked two windows with those tanks. Seems they could have been more carefully placed.

[iws2004]

The structure was a garage and they had built storage cabinets inside the garage on that face anyway so the windows weren't functional anyway. They wanted to preserve their large garden so this was the best place for them. Thanks for the comment.

[txcaddo]

rainwater collection is not illegal in every state..up until now.. I thought it was only in Colorado, where the cattle barons pushed the law through a long time ago...add Utah or maybe just Salt Lake City, to the list..how sad..I can forsee city utility companies looking to block rain water collection because it will eventually cut into their water revenues..sad

[KARStarla]

Capturing rainwater is NOW ILLEGAL

Watch this!

watch?v=4FdGixc7Duk&feature=re­lated

[RCvolunteer1978]

in central florida where there has been a droght for years are NOT allowed to have Rain Barrels showing from the front of the street by rules of the tourist coucil only Disney is allow to collect water as they wish .

[tec6506]

I was thinking about doing this for our buisness, our roof on a heavy rain will fill up 20 gallon containers within minutes or less. not sure how mesurments go as far as roofs but its 120ftLongX40Wide.

[iws2004]

Well, it should fill a 20 gallon container in no time (if you direct the run-off with a gutter). Your roof will collect about 2,900 gallons for every inch of rain that falls on it. This is a huge amount of water. Here in central Texas, you would have to capability of collecting about 90,000 gallons of water annually from your roof since it rains about 31" annually here. I agree, you should definitely look into harvesting your rainwater.

[crazyyella]

those are some hardcore tanks. i definitely don't get enough water for those. i'd like to get an underground cistern to pump into my irrigation system and keep my landscaping nice during the hot months...but again, i don't think i can justify the cost without the rain.

[iws2004]

This is nothing. These three tanks total 9000 gallons. We have installed a 30,000 gallon corrugated metal tank. You may get enough rainfall for this type of system. Each inch of rainfall on a 1000 sf will provide 623 gallons of rainwater. Here in Texas, we get a tremendous amount of rain in the spring but not much during the summer. Therefore, a larger system will allow you to store up rainwater for the months with less rainfall. Underground cisterns costs more than aboveground cisterns.

[crazyyella]

i too have more rain in the fall and spring than the summer...and we have watering restrictions (and rightfully so). my neighborhood would not allow an above ground cistern...but i could probably get a below ground one approved. the trick is finding an electric water pump that i could use to tie into my existing irrigation system.

[iws2004]

Finding a pump is relatively easy. If you are trying to connect to an existing irrigation system, you will need to disconnect your municipal water source and run it solely with rainwater OR you will have to install a specialized backflow preventer on your municipal water line. If you go the route of disconnecting your municipal water supply, you should provide a auto-fill mechanism into your rainwater tank so that you don't burn up your pump when the tank goes dry.

[motardsam]

Are the tanks connected? I understand that there are two down spouts, but do the side tanks drain into the center tank?

[iws2004]

Yes, the three tanks are connected in series at the bottom of each tank. This will allow the water level in each tank to equalize even though we only have inlets from the gutters going into two of the tanks. In addition, each tank has a valve on the bottom outlet so each one can be isolated if there is a leak or something.

[SupernaturalNEWSLTR]

What do you do about bird droppings that would be washed into the holding tanks? Won't the water turn rancid if it stays in there too long, and make the tanks all gooy inside?

[iws2004]

A rainwater collection system should have a first-flush diverter on it which diverts the first bit of rainwater from the roof away from the tank. The first-flush is the part of rain that carries majority of the bird droppings, dust, and other organic matter. If you keep this stuff out of the rainwater cistern, you shouldn't have any problems with water quality. The main culprit that creates smelly water is algae. Algae needs sunlight so use a cistern which is dark to keep the sunlight out.

[motardsam]

are the tanks connected? do the side tanks drain to the center

[trangdung1]

one pipe from the roof is not enough to fill the tanks up in brisbane...because in brisbane rain time very short.

[iws2004]

There is actually two pipes filling the tanks, one from each side of the barn. The video only shows us putting up the one downspout pipe. Each side of the barn drains 750 sq ft. or around 70 sq meter so one 3" pipe for each side is sufficient. Since this first project, the homeowner had us come back and add 13,000 gallons (49200 liters) to his existing 9000 gallons (34000 liters) of storage capacity, for a total of 22,000 gallons.

[chicaslee]

Can you use rainwater as a drinking water source ?  If yes, how do you make sure it is not contaminated ??

[iws2004]

Most of the system we install are used as the home's drinking water source. These are homes that have to either drill a well or install a rainwater harvesting system. To make rainwater potable, you need to filter and disinfect it. We use two filters inline (sediment and carbon filter) with an ozone disinfection unit. The unit creates ozone from the ambient oxygen in the air and is pulled into the water line to kill all pathogens, bacteria, and viruses.

[chicaslee]

Where can the filters be found at ?? How do you disinfect the water ?

[MyerstownFarm]

The question I have is how do you keep it from freezing in the winter?

[lilacmoon68]

This is a great question?I would also like to know how to keepit from freezing.thanks.

[jojo808]

a buddy just told me about the bolivia water wars. My Dad taught me early on how soon we will pay for water and air. In hawaii on Tantlus I worked for one of the founders of the Sierra club ,as they are high on a mountain they use catchment there. Its really simple, there is a screen for leaves and mosquitoes and stuff, but I think the top is open to collect aside form the screen and also roof runoff .Man! I could not have foreseen how great that water would taste. Awesome.

[jojo808]

Just what is used to keep water in the barrels sanitary ? Are there chemicals added?

[iws2004]

No chemicals are used into the cisterns.  The water will not turn bad unless you have a high level of bacteria (septic) or you allow sunlight in and it forms algae. Since this system was used for irrigation purposes only, we don't have to worry about filtration or disinfection.

[utubepunk]

Any tips for those of us who would like to implement rainwater harvesting on a small scale? I'd like to build a small RWH system for my parents so they can use the collected water to water their garden plants.

[bellaggio1770]

You can place plastic barrels (like big yard wastebins) under the rain gutter. Make sure once they are full, to place the lid on it...that way the water will remain clean.

[heyya1961]

Good Video! Got tired of paying too much for water usage in summer so I'm looking to do same. What is the size of the tanks shown in this clip?

[iws2004]

Thanks for the compliment. Each tank is 3000 gallons (so 9000 gallons total) and the homeowner uses it for irrigation purposes. Since this video, the homeowner had us install an additional 16,000 gallons of storage. They put in a another garage structure (for their RV) plus we tied in their house as a collection surface. Part of the new system will be used as their drinking water source. Needless to say, they have plenty of water.