275-Gallon Water Catchment SystemsteemCreated with Sketch.

in homesteading •  7 years ago  (edited)

This morning I was looking on Craigslist, of all places, for cheap 55-gallon drums to use in addition to the three I already had been using in my rain catchment system. Found them for $15 each (not bad). They did have soap residue in them, but it washed out very easily. (The people we got them from were making soap in them :))

The three barrels were doing pretty well but I remembered that although we are at the beginning of our rainy season here in Florida, we will inevitably return to the dry season toward the end of the year.

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Now, being on a shallow well with only 1/2 horse pump, and knowing that a few of my neighbors' wells have already started sucking up air and not water (yikes), this was imperative for me to do. (I won't go down without a fight). Also consider that it costs $6,000 to have a deep well dug and everything that goes into that. Not possible right now, let's just say. We are extremely conservative with our water here. I only shower every other day, and no more than 2 minutes at a time. I turn the water off after I get wet, lather myself, then rinse. I also collect that grey water to use on my crops.

The next 15 days show at least a good chance of rain almost everyday, so I don't think our well will go dry (cross your fingers). We need a good 3-5 inches in the next two weeks to have that water reach our wells. (My estimation).

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Anyway, we now have a total of 275 gallons of capacity to use on the crops, 110 more than the 165 we had before this morning.

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Update: I've placed a one-ounce silver coin in each barrel at the recommendation of @sirknight! I've used five older Perth Mint Kangaroos in his Australian honor! ha!

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Thanks for stopping by, hope things are growing on (ha) for all of you out there!

@vegansilverstack
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Happy rain catching vegansilverstack. Don't forget, a one ounce silver coin in each of the barrels will help keep the water fresh - just saying... SK.

I am not kidding when I tell you that I honestly thought of that this morning! I am going to put on in each barrel! Thanks for reminding me!

Great minds think alike mate!

Very true!

I have put a pure silver coin in my water barrels before.
It is a good suggestion.

thanks for sharing

Thank you for stopping by!

thats cool, Florida sounds rad goodluck with that rain!

It's a big change from Illinois, but I definitely feel like there are more individual freedoms here! Thank you @blapone420 !

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet but IBC Totes are generally available in 275 & 330 gallon sizes.

They are those big white polypropylene tanks with an aluminum frame around them so they can be lifted and stacked with a fork lift.

They're extremely convenient in that they have fittings with valves already installed at the lowest point (I want to say usually a 2" thread) and screw on fill caps on the top.

When looking, make sure they are "Food-Grade".

I've seen them go for as little as $45 on a local auction site here in Michigan.

Do a search for "IBC Tote Food Grade" and your zipcode.

I have seen those, but I would want the whole top to be accessible, meaning I would need to cut it and the 55 gallon ones just seemed to be better to buy one at a time. I have thought about it though, and might sell my 5 - 55 gallon ones and buy one of those 250 gallon ones. I'm comfortable with what I've got though. Thanks for the comment!

And now they're all full. Lol

Not yet! Only 1.5 are. But hopefully in the next few days we will be filling all of them!

One big downpour might do it!

Yeah it would :)

Smart.
Rainwater collection is still legal in Florida, right?
I remember some city in California fined a guy for collecting the rainwater off of his roof a couple years ago.
I built a roof washer a few years back and semi-documented it.
It takes the first few gallons of water off the roof and diverts them so all the leaves and bird poop and such don't go directly into the barrels.
I'll see if I can dig the word doc up and post.

Even if it weren't legal I would still do it. Cool, I would be interested in seeing it! I put some silver in each barrel!

Very nice post. That's a pretty cool system you got there. It'd be cool to see more homemade systems such as this one. Followed.

Thanks! I will update as I change it.

I'll keep watching