Collecting Rainwater - Resource, Money, and Life Saver

Next to oxygen, water is the most invaluable natural resource in the world. Without it, humans, animals, plants, and every other living thing would cease to exist. So whether you're paying for city water, have your own well, or you're pulling water from a spring, creek, or river near your home, there really isn't any room for waste. Buying or building your own rainwater catchment system, along with re-using gray water (we'll talk about gray water in a future post), is a great way to reserve water. Setting up a way to collect and harvest rainwater now will not only lower your water bill or help you use less water from your well or private water source, but it's also one of the few life saving ways to provide water in a post-disaster situation.

The obvious use for rainwater would be for gardening and watering your lawn, but when it really comes down to it, anything that you can do with tap water, you can also do with rainwater: showering and hygiene, washing laundry and cleaning, for cooking and drinking (make sure you read my post about water filtration and purification), watering meat animals and pets, and so on. I catch rainwater using nothing more than some buckets that I put out near the corners of my home and in a few spots in my yard before it rains so I have extra water for my gardening, but there's a lot of different ways to go about this. Depending on whether you want to collect just a bit of rainwater like I do or if you want to do it on a larger scale, there are a lot of options to choose from. Check into your current local laws before doing anything, and then think about if you'd rather create your own rainwater catchment system or if you'd like to purchase one that is pre-built.

Here are a few links to articles and videos to help you decide if making one yourself is right for you:

 

 Build A Rainwater Collection System - Mother Earth News

 

Build A 3 Drum Rain Collection System Better - Instuctables

 

How To Harvest Rainwater - Garden Gate Magazine

 

Creating A Simple And Inexpensive Rain Water Collection System - Old World Garden Farms

 

220-Gallon Rainwater Collection System at The Sugar Shack - video by Mark Scott Lavin

 

DIY 1.100 Gallon Rainwater Harvesting & Collection System - video by LDSPrepper

 

 

 

If you decide to buy a rainwater catchment system instead, here are my suggestions:

 

50 Gallon Ceramic Rain Harvesting Catchment - on Ebay $137.99 with Free Shipping

 

62 Gallon Sand Stone Rainwater Harvesting Wall at Home Depot - $119.99

 

65 Gallon Rainwater Collection and Storage System - on Amazon for $179.00 + shipping 

 

 

 

Like I mentioned, collecting and harvesting rainwater is illegal in some places. Before doing anything, you should go to USA.gov to be on the safe side and check the current laws and regulations for your location. I know in some places people are encouraged to collect rainwater, but in others you could get fined or receive jail time.

 

For more ideas on being self sufficient before disasters strike, be sure to check back in and click the 'Pre-disaster Sufficiency' label on the side of the page. There are a lot of things you can do now to provide day to day things in a cheaper and more environmentally friendly way. If you currently collect rainwater or have in the past, please share some details about what type of system you use, how long you've been doing it, and what you use your harvested rainwater for. I'd love to hear about your experiences with this.

 

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