Rainwater Harvesting

NOTE: Rainwater Harvesting is illegal in a few states. Where I live, California, it is not illegal. Please do a search on your state and the laws.

Mostly, rainwater harvesting is seen as a way in drought stricken states to have water to use for your garden and plants in times of rationed water. Southern California has experienced this very thing. The former governor tried to make “Brown is the New Green” into a catch phrase. As in, having a brown yard is better than that green yard that sucks up water we need to use personally. It is why I put in a drought resistant  yard – see my About page. 

While it is not typically for personal drinking water, if we were to have a major earthquake where water was completely cut off from the area, or massive water rationing from severe drought, no one would fault you for using the water for personal purposes. You would just need to know the ways to clean your water to make it drinkable. It is, after all, most likely to come from your roof. That means roof detritus, bird poo, critter droppings, dead bugs and all other kinds of stuff.

Basic Rainwater Harvesting

This basic two barrel system is brought to you from Alberta, Canada. I really like the stable platform he builds. He has no overflow on his second barrel…hmm. BUT! It’s a good start. There are a few more videos that show a similar objective, but vary in the techniques.

Here, the person has bought a kit called: EarthMinded DIY Rain Barrel Diverter and Parts Kit. He installs it on a food grade barrel he got. His base is made from wood – which concerns me if  water collects there and rots the wood. See what you think!

City of San Diego Rainwater Harvesting Guide - click to see guide

This is  a PDF guide on how to create a system to capture and store rainwater  – put out by the City of San Diego. It covers many parts of the topic.

Here’s a video from Utah State University Extension. He suggests that you empty your barrel before winter comes. Sure – in Utah where the snow falls (Greatest Snow on Earth says their license plate)!! hahaha! If you are one of my below the 34th parallel folks, then you’re just getting ready to COLLECT that water during the rainy winter months!! 

All Right! Another Canadian with a Totally Do-It-Yourself Method. 

You might ask why I haven’t shown a lot of Americans harvesting rain. Lemmetellyouwhat. There are PLENTY of American folks out there collecting rainwater – and a good portion of them are Preppers. And they build BIG rainwater catchment systems to prepare for “that” day. If you’re in that category – go to YouTube and Look it up! It’s enlightening. I put these in because they’re for gardeners. You can put in multiple rain barrels and have puh-lenty of water, if that’s what you’d like to do!