permaculture

[Scott Pittman <pci@permaculture-inst.org>]

At 09:46 PM 12/12/00 +1100, you wrote:
> >Can you give me a website where I can find design examples/principles
> >of 'first-flush diverters' ? Tnx. Guy
> Don't know of any web sites - find a copy of 'Permaculture: A Designers
> Manual" by Bill Mollison - it has 2 simple but effective designs in the
> water chapter

Best diverter I have seen was in Brazil.  Where the water leaves the roof 
it goes into a 12" pipe which has a soccer ball in it that fits very 
snugly.  The water fills the 12" pipe floating the ball to the top of the 
pipe the top of the pipe has a bell reducer (12" to 6") in which the ball, 
acting like a valve, closes. This allows the water, now coming from a clean 
roof, to flow through the "T" at the top of the reducer to the 
cistern.  The 12" pipe can either be sealed at the bottom with a faucet to 
drain it or it can be gravel packed at the bottom with weep holes to allow 
the water to subside and the soccer ball to return to the bottom of the pipe.

It's easier to describe with a drawing but hopefully you get the point.  It 
is much less complicated than the Mollison model and more elegant in its 
execution and performance.

Hope this helps!

Scott