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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

bobf wrote:
> Sandy, The way it rains in the desrt, as you know, is so damn hard 
> (when it does rain) that most of the rain over-floods a typical 
> gutter system.  I'm just surprised that system that Rob showed would
>  provide enough water for their needs..............



How much water do you use a day?  (approx)

They say the average household uses about 70 gallons per day per person
for indoor use, and up to 200 gallons to include outdoor use.
I think both figures are high, at least for me.

Of course, I hardly ever use 'outdoor water'.  The rabbits used to be on
an automatic system, and I would say they drank a lot, but I don't have
rabbits anymore and chickens don't drink that much.   When I used the 5
gallon waterer, I would fill it about once every 5-7 days, so I would
say 2 gallons a day would be about right for my outdoor use. I don't
wash the trucks or anything like that, and all my watering is done with
rainwater.  All the chickens except for the ones in the main coop are
drinking rainwater.

So here is my rundown:
Showering and shaving/brushing teeth    7 gal   
Hand washing                            2 gal
Dish washing(hand)                      10
Clothes washing (1 load every other day)15
Toilet flushing                         5
Cooking                                 2

Total for two people per day:   41 gallons or 21 gallons per person
That is normal use with standard conservation practices of showers less
than 5 minutes max and low volume(less than one gallon) toilet, etc.
I do things like keep a bit of soapy water in the sink just to rinse
hands and use a hand sanitizer.  We don't flush unless, well, you know..

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/sq3.html

I took the USGS quiz and it says I use 25 gallons a day....
That is probably about right, and the reason our overall is lower is
because we share the same bathroom and clothes washing, etc.

Therefore, I would say, that here at EarthNSky we use about 43 gallons
or less per day, for both inside and outside use for both of us.

I know that when we have been without a well or without water, we got by
on far less than that, something approaching 10 gallons a day, but that
is with sponge baths and no washing machine or toilet.  That is just
scraping by...

Here is another chart showing water use:
http://www.wsscwater.com/service/WaterUsageChart.cfm

For the question of can rainwater provide for the needs, I would say yes.

Take the area of the roof drained x the inches of rain received x the
efficiency of the water recovered (usually 60%) equals the amount of
rainwater collected.
This page has a good calculator:
http://www.csgnetwork.com/rwcollectioncalc.html

I collect water off just part of my barn, for example..
the area is about 25x20.  I have a 300 gallon tank there.  The
calculator says that with 60%, I can collect 187 gallons from 1 inch of
rainfall.  I can tell you that I can fill that tank, so I am closer to
100% recovery.  One good thunderstorm will fill that tank.  If that was
my only source of water, and if I had another larger tank(like a large
above ground swimming pool that I could cover) for more permanent
storage, I could collect 16500 gallons a year (based on our 55 inches of
rain a year)  Now, in my setup, I used old, salvaged materials because I
am not collecting water to drink, but with a few changes, I could
collect potable water.  Bear in mind that that 16500 gallons figure
comes from just one area of one part of a roof that is about 20x25.
Potentially, with all of my outbuildings and the house, I could collect
far, far more water.

So, with my use of say 50 gallons a day, x 365 days a year, we use about
18250 gallons a year..let's round that off to 20000.  To collect that
much in my location,  I would need to expand my surface area and make it
about 25x25.  If I did that, AND I changed my materials to support
potable water, I could collect everything I need from a 25x25 area.



BUT, what if I lived in a desert like area where I got maybe 10" of rain
a year..  with that, my max rainfall collection would be about 3800
gallons, only about 20% of what I use.  However, I can always expand my
collection area.  If I expand my area by a factor of 5...
25x125, I could potentially collect 19000 gallons a year, even with only
10" of rain a year.  25x125 = 3125 square feet.
I have no idea of how large your house roof is, but an average 40x60 3
bedroom house is more than half of what you would need.  Even if your
house was not large enough, you can drain water off other outbuildings
or even a large tarp.  If there is a will, there is a way.

Here is wiki article on a simple system, but IMO, it could be even
simpler if you are only using the water to water your plants.

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rainwater-Collection-System

Bev





--
"The world is my country, all mankind are my
 brethren, and to do good is my religion."
 Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)