The average American family of four consumes anywhere from 900 to 1200 liters of water daily…
Harvesting rainwater offers many advantages: it conserves municipal and well water; it is free; gravity fed systems conserve energy; it is low in salts and good for plants; and it can reduce flooding and erosion. Rainwater provides an excellent primary, supplementary, or alternative source of water.
The rainwater cistern is historically an underground basin of water, but it can also be an above ground barrel or tank. Cisterns are used to make sure that water is not contaminated nor suffers from evaporation. The rainwater cistern can hold large amounts of water and is completely sealed from contaminants, except those in the water itself. Historically cisterns are put underground because it is one of the safest places to put something that is to be kept under constant temperature. Good materials for cisterns include plastic liners or membrane material in wood frames, ceramic, and fiberglass. Tanks are heavily pigmented to deter algae growth. The two main reasons why people use cisterns are either for the sake of survival in a place where the only potable water is rainwater, or ecological awareness in search of sustainability. A rainwater cistern needs to offer enough capacity to collect enough useable water from a catchment surface.
At the Go Green Home we installed a below-ground 1200 gallon water cistern made of plastic that is approved by the FDA for potable water.
During the 1970s California encouraged water conservation with the California Water Conservation Tax Law. This law provided tax credits up to $3,000 for implementation of rainwater, greywater, or combined storage cisterns or other water conservation devices. However, in 1982 the law was repealed.
Harvesting rainwater offers many advantages: it conserves municipal and well water; it is free; gravity fed systems conserve energy; it is low in salts and good for plants; and it can reduce flooding and erosion. Rainwater provides an excellent primary, supplementary, or alternative source of water.
The rainwater cistern is historically an underground basin of water, but it can also be an above ground barrel or tank. Cisterns are used to make sure that water is not contaminated nor suffers from evaporation. The rainwater cistern can hold large amounts of water and is completely sealed from contaminants, except those in the water itself. Historically cisterns are put underground because it is one of the safest places to put something that is to be kept under constant temperature. Good materials for cisterns include plastic liners or membrane material in wood frames, ceramic, and fiberglass. Tanks are heavily pigmented to deter algae growth. The two main reasons why people use cisterns are either for the sake of survival in a place where the only potable water is rainwater, or ecological awareness in search of sustainability. A rainwater cistern needs to offer enough capacity to collect enough useable water from a catchment surface.
At the Go Green Home we installed a below-ground 1200 gallon water cistern made of plastic that is approved by the FDA for potable water.
During the 1970s California encouraged water conservation with the California Water Conservation Tax Law. This law provided tax credits up to $3,000 for implementation of rainwater, greywater, or combined storage cisterns or other water conservation devices. However, in 1982 the law was repealed.
On Feb 27, 2009, the state declared a historic declaration of drought, so it is clear that now is the time to start doing things differently.
As much as this is a good idea they need to change the laws in some areas that actually ban th collection of rain water.
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