RWH system and natural water filter?

Alexshimshimhae

New member
I don't remember where I saw it, but now I can't seem to find it anywhere.

I know there are a ton of Rainwater harvesting blueprints and stuff available, but I was kind of curious if any of you guys have it setup and how you went about it.



How you deal with the initial dirty run off, how you're filtering it and how you check to make sure your water is gooooood.



For those of you who aren't in the know (i'm no expert btw) I believe when you use the rain water, you purposely design a mechanism, or SOMETHING to divert the first say 5-10 minutes of the rain water run off from...say your roof because usually that's all like contaminated rain--but after that, most of the water is much safer.

To top it, people then add another means of filtering out anything that gets on by.



The BENEFITS, i think the thread i saw--was that this water left virtually no water spots because the contaminants and all that found in say hose water is not there?



I kind of want to know the intricacies of it.



I mean it's a tad off topic, but part of the reason why I was looking into this--is because in the spirit of saving money (being eco friendly was an added benefit) I was thinking about maybe making a hyrdoponic/aquaponic system (super cool btw--make kind of a eco system with edible fish which feed plants which clean water which also all helps fish) but then I realized, once i have the water for that--then I have all that water that I'll have and depending on how much rain, I could prolly wash all my cars with it xD
 
Update--For those who are looking into it, these are the sites I've been looking at



American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association - Gallery

for rainwater harvest systems--be warned--from what I can tell--you kind of buy these...but I'm more interested in building my own(I have a small backyard in brooklyn--so I have to customize mine--plus i figure it better suits my needs this way.)



HarvestH2O.com :filtration and purification

Currently working on getting my CPA license, so I mean I don't have as much time as I'd like to do full research just yet--but this site seems to be really helpful for disinfection purposes/filtering. (I'm probably going to go with a simple filtration for starters--but thinking if i get enough water collected after a few years--I might think about further cleaning the water for consumption)



HarvestH2O.com :Solar Disinfection

For those of you in the sunny regions, I would probably follow something like this--or the distillation method with carbon filters to suck out the VOC's



IN TERMS OF DIY examples..this has been my main source

DIY Water Projects -- Catching it, saving it, treating i, ...





This is sort of like a manual

http://www.rainfoundation.org/fileadmin/PublicSite/Manuals/AGRODOK_RWH_43-e-2006-small.pdf



something you hotter states might want to consider to also cut down on costs to keep your houses cool at the same time

Greenroofs.com :Coupling Rainwater Collection with Living Roofs: A Water Quality Review





NOW, Where I stand is, maybe using a filter to kind of take out all the sentiment to make it safe for say car washes and the plants around the house--BUT I think I might setup a aquaponic system

this is a great video YouTube - 300 Gallon Aquaponic Garden System Part 1 (And Bell Siphon!)



With all this--my biggest issue aside from the build--is what am i ganna do during the winter? =[

Hope this helps
 
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