rainwater harvesting tips ?

[tracy]

Oooh, Cagsley, I suspect Sarah is going to love an article and photos from you on this topic! :-)

[RichardKing]

How about building a solar still ?

Get a sheet of transparent plastic, a container & a stone.

Choose a sunny spot & dig a shallow pit a bit smaller than the plastic.

Place the container (small bucket etc) in the middle & sink it down level with the bottom.

Cover the pit with the plastic & then weight it down around the edges with logs or anything.

Place the stone in the centre of the plastic directly over the container, causing the plastic to slope towards it from all directions.

Heat from the sun will evaporate water from the soil, this will then condense on the plastic, run down the slope & drip into the container.

If the soil is not very damp then you can wet it with any water (eg pond, stream, puddle) or cut vegetation (eg bracken) & line the pit with it to provide a source.

[docsquid]

Cagsley - would be a lovely article for the newsletter if you are willing...?

We harvest rainwater from the roof of our building, and from our greenhouse, and we will be doing likewise from the roof of our new wood-store. I should add we are very lucky to be able to have these buildings in the wood - only because they are either replacing existing ones or are on concrete that was already there. We didn't buy a water butt, but bought two pallet tanks from a farm auction (there is a theme to my posts - farm auctions are a good way of picking up stuff). We cover them with black plastic that we bought as a damp proof membrane and we had some left over. This prevents algal growth. We don't use it as drinking water but do use it for watering plants (we have a small allotment garden on site) and also for hand-washing, boot washing and so on.

[cagsley]

Hi Docsquid,

I will be servicing the filter over Easter so I will take some photos and write something after easter.

[northmetking]

Cagsley, I don't suppose you took those photos, did you?

We'll be buying a woodland soon, all being well, and I'm trying to get an idea of any extra costs we could need to consider. Having a good water supply will obviously be essential, and although a water butt arrangement will be fine for watering, toilet etc, drinking water will be more of a problem - not so much for short trips, as we can take bottles with us, but if we're going to be camping for a couple of days or more, obviously it's going to become more of an issue.

I was wondering about a borehole, but I like the sound of your system, and more details would be great...

[cagsley]

Sorry all for the delay I have got some pics, can I post them on here or do I need to put them elsewhere?

Cagsley

[Rich]

Hi Cagsley,

If you send them to me, with a brief explanation of it via email [email protected] I can post them up here, our forum isn't that sophisticated yet!

thanks

Rich

[Rich]

Hi Cagsley,

Thanks for your articles and photos, I've posted them up here

http://www.swog.org.uk/articles/rainwater-harvesting/