DIY projects you can build to harvest rainwater, reduce water use, and reuse water.
I suppose that the only thing we waste more of than energy is water, and the consequences are probably just as bad -- maybe worse. Here are some practical ways to get started changing that.
Water related material on other pages:
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Rain Water Harvest System References -- catching rainwater for people, plants, and livestock | |
The Texas
Manual On Rainwater Harvesting Manual, Texas Water Development Board
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![]() Intended for Texas residents, but much of the material is widely applicable. |
Rainwater Collection for the Mechanically Challenged, Suzy Banks with Richard Heinichen
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![]() Nice, down-to-earth
style. The authors have installed many systems, and appear to
know the subject well. |
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Rainwater
Harvesting Systems for Montana, MSU Extension Service
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Harvesting Rainwater for Landscape Use, Ratricia Waterfall, Extension Agent, University of Arizona 2nd edition, October, 2004
http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/water/az1344.pdf
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![]() The 60
page guide includes both simple systems that redirect rainwater for
landscape watering, as well as complex systems that include storage.
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Design for Water, Heather Kinkade-Levario
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![]() Covers passive systems that catch and control storm water as well as active systems that store rain water for later use for drinking or landscape irrigation. Sufficient detail to support designing and building your own system. |
Water From the Sky, Micheal Reynolds Earthship Store: Amazon.com has a better price
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![]() Earthships are typically have complete water independence -- they capture all of their water needs on the roof, and they don't export sewage -- all in a climate with 8 inches of annual rainfall. The book covers thirty years worth of lessons learned in designing these systems. |
Water Storage, Art Ludwig |
![]() Lots of practical detail, lessons learned, ... Good section on building ferrocement tanks. 125 large format pages, 2005. Available at Amazon and the usual places. |
Rainwater Harvesting, Practical Action
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NOAA
NOAA CLIM20 Report:
All NOAA Weather Products |
The NOAA CLIM20 report is available as a free download, and has historic precipatation data that may be useful for planning a rain collection system (for example, probability that rainfall will be less than a given level) |
Rain Water Harvest Systems to Build | |
Our new 2500 gallon rain water harvesting
system All the details... |
![]() ![]() A small pump makes the water available for the garden. The write-up is quite detailed with sections on sizing, construction, and performance. All the details... |
Designing And Installing A Rain Water Catchment
System, Alt. Build Blog http://altbuildblog.blogspot.com/... |
Quite a bit of detail on the collection, overflow, and outlet plumbing. |
Ersson Rainwater Harvest and Purification
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![]() Covers building and operating the system. |
A Nice, Simple Rainwater Storage Setup
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Rainwater Harvesting with Multiple Barrels
http://www.kidsfromkanata.ca/files/rainbarrels.html
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![]() Complete with good plumbing diagrams, and even a water
level gage. |
The WooTank -- Version 2 |
![]() The tank consists of an external frame made from 2 by lumber, and plywood sides lined with EPDM. The bottom basically sits right on the ground. Very simple and inexpensive, but likely to be durable. I think the external frame could be stained and look very nice in a home landscape or garden. Nathan uses the tank as a fish tank, but it should work fine for rain harvesting. |
Build A Simple Rain Barrel, Maryland Environmental Design Program http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Habitat/WildAcres/warainbarrels.asp
Another rain barrel collector design, and notes on using the water: |
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Make a Rain Barrel
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![]() Provides for controlled overflow and gravity feed from the barrel. |
Rain Barrel to Toilet Installation www.phoenixsailingcharters.com/rainwater.htm
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Rain Barrel Installation Video and Kit Installing a rain barrel video... |
![]() The system includes the hookup from downspout to barrel as well as both a faucet that can be installed at fill a bucket height and a 2nd fitting to install near the bottom of the tank. Has provisions for adding more barrels. |
Rainwater Harvesting
http://geopathfinder.com/9566.html
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![]() Quite a bit of how to build and how to use such a system. |
How to Build a Rainwater Harvesting and Greywater
Collecting System
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEQ3p9akQDg
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![]() ![]() The system is described with quite a bit of construction detail in the YouTube video. |
Building a High Pressure Solar Powered Rainwater
Irrigation System www.ryanbutcher.com/... |
![]() The system collects roof water into a 400 gallon tank, and then distributes the water to a sprinkler system using a solar powered high pressure diaphragm pump. |
Suggestions for Installing Domestic
Water Storage Tanks (in freezing climates), Building In Alaska |
Some guidelines on installing buried or insulated tanks for water in cold climates. |
Ferro Cement Tanks http://ferrocement.com/tankBook/indici.en.html
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Build a 6500 gallon Concrete Water
Tank for $1500, Dorothy Ainsworth, Backwoods Home Magazine www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ainsworth101.html
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![]() Lots of work, but it has held up for 23 years and counting. Could probably also be used as a heat storage tank in solar heating systems. |
Portable Water Catchment and Shelter for Livestock |
![]() Made entirely with common, hardware store materials. |
Collecting Water for Wildlife This site appears to have gone away, but the material is still available on the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20090225175323/http://oasisguzzler.com/GuzzlerCollector.htm
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Barrels and Totes for Water Collection (and other uses)... |
Several interesting water harvesting schemes and lots of other ideas -- composting barrels, feeders, planters, floats, chairs, doghouses, chicken houses,... |
The WaterWall Fatboy Tank http://www.waterwalltanks.com/
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![]() The tank holds 650 gallons, and has an unusual sculpted look. Several tanks can be ganged together. |
Aussie Rain Tanks
http://aussieraintanks.com/home.html
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(Thanks to Nathan for suggesting this site) |
Legalities of
Collecting Water Off Your Roof (or, do you own the water that lands on your roof)
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![]() Looks like common sense is prevailing. (thanks to Doug for finding this) |
Fog Harvesting | |
Harvesting water from fog |
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AquaVolve -- water from humidity in air...
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Conserving Water | |
My Shower Curtain is a Green
Warrior
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Use some of the items listed on
this site: |
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Greywater Reuse Reusing grey water for yard watering or toilet flushing reduces water demand, and reduces the volume of sewage to be treated by municipal treatment plants. |
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Oasis Design -- Grey Water Central www.oasisdesign.net/greywater/index.htm
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![]() The system described are simple and have been field proven. |
GreyWater dot Com http://www.greywater.com/
Grey Water Action -- several good projects with details
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Occidental Greywater, Appropedia.org www.appropedia.org/Occidental_greywater
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Greywater Ecuador La Largrima Purifificadora, Appropedia.org
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Quite a bit of detail on laying out and building the bed, liner, grease trap, ... |
Grey Water Marsh, http://www.appropedia.org/CCAT_greywater_marsh_(current)
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Domestic Wastewater, David Abazs |
![]() Also provides some information on composting toilets. |
Sample soil beds for greywater irrigation and infiltration http://www.greywater.com/samples.htm
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EPA Constructed Wetland Website EPA reference site on constructing
wetlands
Handbook of Constructed Wetlands - Volume 1 ... (pdf) |
![]() EPA website with much material on designing and building wetlands for water treatment. Including a 53 page EPA handbook on constructing wetlands for treating water.
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Laundry to Landscape Grey Water System, Oasis Design www.oasisdesign.net/greywater/laundry/index.php
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Laundry to Landscape 2.0 www.homegrownevolution.com/...
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Greywater System for Clothes Washer Waterhttp://sustainablebackyard.blogspot.com/...
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Grey water for greenhouse heating
and plant watering
See also greenhouses and sunspaces section ...
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Using grey water for greenhouse plant watering and as a source of heat for
the greenhouse seems like a potentially good way to go. I've included the (meager) information I have been able to find on this below. If you have other information, pictures, ... please let me know -- Gary.
www.greywater.com/treatment.htm
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Hydroponic Bog Garden http://www.instructables.com/ ...
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Flotender Commercial Grey Water Irrigation System...
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The website provides helpful material on grey water reuse and a full installation manual. |
A small commercial solution
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![]() If anyone has actual experience with this unit (or similar ones), I'd be very interested in hearing about it. |
Rain Water Gardens | |
Rain Gardens of West Michigan http://raingardens.org |
![]() They are a fairly easy project, look great, and avoid the rapid runoff during storms that carries pollution into streams and rivers. This site has lots of detailed information on planning and building a rain water garden. |
Water Purification For Drinking | |
Water Pasteurization Indicator Indicates when water has reached a high enough temperature to kill harmful microbes. http://solarwapi.blogspot.com/
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Solar Stills Solar powered water distillation.. |
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UNDERSTANDING SOLAR STILLS Horace McCracken and Joel Gordes VITA Paper |
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Solar Still
ElPaso Solar Energy Association |
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Watercone Solar Still http://www.watercone.com/product.html
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![]() "This Invention represents a conical, self-supporting and stackable Unit made from transparent, thermo-formable polycarbonate (same as water dispensers) outfitted with a screw cap spout at the tip and an inward circular collecting trough at the base. Technically speaking it is a solar still. " |
Random Water Ideas | |
Hippo Roller
water transport From Inhabitat.com
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![]() An easy way to transport several days worth of water for a family. The best designs are the simple ones. |
Advanced Toilets -- of many kinds -- $10 and up | |
High Efficiency Toilets (HET's) These toilets utilize various techniques to reduce the amount of water per flush to no more than 1.28 gallons -- sometimes as little as 1 gallon. In order to receive the HET designation, the toilets must pass the same performance test that conventional toilets have to pass. Designs include Dual-Flush, Pressure Assisted Flush, and Flushometer. Since about 30% of household water goes to toilet flushing, these lower flush toilets can result in significant water saving. |
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Toilet performance tests Primer on HET's (pdf) The MAP site under the "Professional" tab has test results for thousands of toilets |
![]() The Performance Testing link describes the MAP
test, which tests toilet flushing performance. The idea of the testing
program is to ensure that past problems with low flush toilets are not
repeated. |
EPA WaterSense Program http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/pubs/toilets.html
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![]() So, ask your supplier why he does not have a bunch of toilets with this label. |
Todd's Low Flush Toilet Experiences |
![]() Its amazing what a 0.9 gallon flush can do!
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Our Dual Flush Toilet ... Updated Nov 2010 |
![]() All the fascinating details...
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Waterless Urinals These urinals use no flush water at all. No reason you can't put one in your house. |
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Waterless Urinals Some Suppliers: http://www.falconwaterfree.com www.sloanvalve.com/Our_Products/Waterfree_Urinals.aspx
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![]() ![]() Waterless urinals use a sealant liquid in a trap that is lighter that water and remains in the trap to prevent odors. More... On a commercial scale:" A Waterless urinal saves on average 45,000 gallons of water a year . Twenty-two Waterless urinals save approximately 1,000,000 gallons of water per year. It can be estimated that there are 8 million urinals installed in the US alone with approximately 100 million people using these fixtures. Assuming an average 2 gallon flush, the potable water use of urinals in this country per year is approximately 160 billion gallons." |
Urine Separation Toilets These toilets separate out the urine and collect it in a separate container for use as a high value fertilizer. Separation greatly simplifies sewage treatment, and saves much water. |
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Urine Separation Toilets
Articles: Some Suppliers: |
![]() Separation greatly simplifies sewage treatment, and saves much water. |
Composting Toilets Composting toilets turn waste into useful compost, and do not require the huge quantities of water, or generate the huge quantities of sewage that conventional toilets do. |
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Waterless Toilets -- A good AU Guide http://www.yourhome.gov.au/water/waterless-toilets
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![]() Covers continuous composting and batch composting toilets including some pros and cons of each. |
The Composting Toilet System Book. David Del Porto and Carol Steinfeld Widely available |
![]() And, enough detail to build some of the designs. Also, a good chapter on greywater treatment and recycling. |
Clivusmultrum Composting Toilets
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![]() This is a well established design that has been in use for several decades. The book "The New Autonomous House", Vale gives an extensive description of installing and living with this toilet -- nearly all favorable. |
Composting Toilets A list of
composting toilet manufacturers:
And, another: |
Here is a discussion thread from Homesteading Today that is typical the kind of experience people report for commercial composting toilets... |
The Humanure Handbook 3rd Edition, Joseph Jenkins Free download from the authors website http://www.josephjenkins.com/books_humanure.html Gallery of Humanure Toilets http://humanurehandbook.com/album_toilets/album_toilets.html
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![]() "This is the third edition of a self-published book. No respectable publisher would touch it with a ten foot shovel. Nevertheless, the book has now been sold in at least 57 countries worldwide and has been published in foreign editions on four continents. It has been talked about on NPR, BBC, CBC, Howard Stern, in The Wall Street Journal, Playboy Magazine ... " |
How to Make and Use a Simple
"Sawdust" Toilet http://www.appropedia.org/How_to_make_and_use_a_sawdust_toilet_(original)
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![]() Before you dismiss this as being to primitive, have a look at
this
Homesteading Today thread... |
A Sustainable Solar Heated Loo |
The Arbor design saves thousands of gallons of water a year, and provides valuable compost. The solar heating system is simple and compact drainback using an IBC container for the heat storage and heat distribution. |
Composting Toilet
http://biorealis.com/composter/rotating/
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Composting Toilets from
Living Outside the Box Composting Toilets: Other Biological Toilets:
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![]() Very interesting and well thought out. |
Compost Toilets, From Practical Action.org http://www.appropedia.org/ ...
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Making a Composting Toilet --
A Homemade Clivus Multrum http://www.dykema.net/Heidisloo.htm (this link is currently broken) Some of it is on the Wayback Machine (limited pictures):
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The Sunny John www.sunnyjohn.com/toiletpapers2.htm
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Composting Toilet for RV's Composting toilets for RV's can be a great way to get rid of the black water tank, chemicals, and messy dumping that go with conventional RV toilets. |
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DIY Composting Toilet for RV... |
Gordon passes on detailed instructions on how to build and use the composting toilet, and observations from their many years of using this and other composting toilets.
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Full Time RVers Report on Composting Toilet... |
The have a half dozen very well done videos explaining installation, using the toilet, prepping the the toilet for use and a very detailed FAQ video. Well worth watching if you are thinking of changing to a composting toilet. |
Natures Head Composting Toilet for Tiny Homes... |
Lots of good detail on living successfully with a composting toilet. Even includes a blind smell test!
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Efficient Irrigation | |
Guide to Successful Drip Irrigation
For Landscape Professionals, From City Of Santa Monica Drip Irrigation Guide (pdf) |
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Harvesting Rainwater for Landscape
Use http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/water/az1052/harvest.html
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Trickle Irrigation, University of Alaska Extension Service www.uaf.edu/coop-ext/publications (pdf)
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![]() plants." Paper describing the benefits of, and how how to implement an efficient trickle irrigation system. |
Dripworks Catalog
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Natural Swimming Pools | |
Taking the Plunge Naturally, Permaculture Magazine
www.permaculture.co.uk/mag/Articles/Swimming.html
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![]() Less impact, less energy, nicer looking, less expensive to build and maintain. |
How to Build a Natural Swimming
Pool, Douglas Buege, Vicky Uhland, Mother Earth News, August 2002 Finding Mother Earth News articles... |
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23 Breathtaking Natural
Swimming Pools, The Daily Green www.thedailygreen.com/... |
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Gary 02/10/07