Rainwater Harvesting: A Home-Scale Design Guide (Sustainable Building Essentials)

From the Publisher Fundamentals

Before jumping into calculating the system sizing and other requirements, it is crucial to understand the preliminary considerations and some of the fundamentals. This will help you determine what benefits you might expect depending on your system set-up and how to approach the design process as a whole.

Some of the considerations covered are: - Water Quality - Supply and Demand - Risk Management - Feasibility

In the feasibility stage of a RWH design, the system is defined as the two major components: your roof and your tank. You are simply trying to understand if there is a combination of roof area and tank volume that is technically feasible and will work for you and your budget.

We present the feasibility stage of RWH system design in three parts: 1. Define Supply and Demand 2. Optimize Your Storage 3. Test and Redesign for Low Rainfall

Anatomy of a Rainwater System

This chapter is fundamentally about making sure that the individual components that make up your system work well together and the system functions as a whole. Remember, a properly designed and maintained RWH system will be-have as a treatment train — this is the end goal.

There are many individual components that make up a rainwater system, such as: - Collection and pre-filtration - Storage - Distribution

Collection and Pre-Filtration Your roof, your rain gutters, your downspouts, your pre-filtration equipment, and any horizontal conveyance required to send the water to its storage location make up your collecting and pre-filtration components.

Storage Rainwater tanks actually support functional ecosystems comprised of complex communities of bacteria. The biofilm that forms on the internal walls of the tank and the sludge layer that forms over time on the bottom of the tank have beneficial implications for water quality.

Assuring Good End-Use Water Quality Good upfront design and sensible, pro-active maintenance of your system are the fundamental things that will have the biggest impact on your actual end-use water quality.

Case Study: Essential Rainwater Harvesting in Action Rob and Michelle Avis completely renovated their typical suburban rancher house and turned it into a thriving permaculture property.

The authors' home before... The authors' home in 2009, before starting on their property renovations.

Water collection from the neighbor A close-up of the neighbor's downspout being redirected to the authors' food forest.

A lush front lawn food forest fed by rainwater collection The authors' lush front lawn food forest is fed entirely with rainwater collection.

The authors' home after... The food forest in the front yard of the authors' home is entirely irrigated by overflow through tier RWH tanks and the neighbor's downspout.

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