Homestead mailing list

["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

We don't get much rain, well, except last year but that is the exception, 
not the rule.  So, we have been trying to figure a way to collect the snow 
that packs on the roof and then somehow transporting it to tanks.  Waiting 
for snow melt isn't an option because by then it is a dirty, pine needle 
filled and pitchy mess.

We have plenty of water for our current needs with a year-round creek and a 
seasonal creek.  However, we're on a hill and pumping the stuff uphill for 
1600 feet is asking a bit from pumps.  So, as we are terraced, sort of, we 
were thinking of using the snow melt water for the top level.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gene GeRue" <genegerue AT ruralize.com>


> Land seekers: burn this into your brains! Again, again and again. It
> is common sense; we all know it, yet again and again we learn of
> people whose lives are diminished by lack of sufficient water. Worry
> much more about quantity than quality. Quality can be improved.
> Quantity often cannot.
>
> That said, Don and I were tossing around the idea of rain water
> collection. This subject merits further discussion. I say calculate
> your annual water needs, double that, then calculate how large a roof
> would be needed to get that much water with your MINIMUM average
> annual rainfall. It seems to me that we here can come up with a
> very-low-cost roof that puts rainwater into a vessel that sits higher
> than our houses and gardens. You flatlanders may have pressure
> challenges but at 2.2 feet elevation per pound of pressure, it takes
> only a small hill to provide adequate household pressure. Garden
> irrigation can be and is often ideal at low pressure.
>
> Now don't let this rainwater collection stuff cause you to lose that
> mantra: I need water; I need water; I need water. Repeat regularly.