Catch Some Rain

My bride was arranging the utilities for our new house today, and we found out that water costs $30 a month up to 2000 gallons, then $6 for every thousand gallons after that.

That is gonna be about twice what we are paying now.

So, it's high time I talk about collecting rain water.

Rain is very pure, very clean, and very sustainable and natural. Something I read said that rain water coming off an asphalt shingle roof was cleaner than regular tap water. There are no utility fees, and no active machines required to harvest it. Furthermore, it can be used for watering plants, or if you want to go a little more intense, you can use it to provide water for your whole house.

All you need is gutters, some pipes, a pump, a storage tank and a few other various electrical and plumbing gadgets and you have your own home water system. You might want to install a filter in there too just for good measure.

Of course, if your area does not get 24 inches of rain or more each year, you may wish to plumb up another source of water as a backup.

We'll probably not go that far in this house simply because we do not plan to live there forever. So, I'll use water collected from the gutters to water the garden. I'll get gutters put on the house, then I'll direct the downspouts to barrels which will hold the water. As an added benefit, this will give me plenty of rain water with which to water my carnivorous plants. I may even bury a pipe from the barrels to the garden to carry the water.

I love weather.
WiredForStereo