Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> What kinds of screens do people use for rainwater
> catchment? We don't seem to get the balance of stopping leaves and not
> promoting blocked lines.

I haven't done it but I was planning to do it some years ago so I did 
the research. What you want is not a screen; you want a diverter. The 
first rain that falls on a roof must go into a wash barrel with a 
small drain hole in the bottom. Rain fills that barrel with the dirty 
stuff that washes off the roof and then the water lifts a float that 
opens a valve that allows the now-clean water to go into your fully 
enclosed water container via a pipe between the two barrels. The wash 
barrel resets itself after the rain by slowly emptying through the 
little drain hole, carrying the crud with it. There are various rain 
gutter deflectors that will keep out leaves but allow the runoff to 
fill the barrel.