General Discussion & Chat: My rainwater harvesting project, 1 by Dinu

Dinu wrote:
I discussed in another thread last year about it. Now, last month, I improvised on it and made it pukka by replacing the plastic tank with brick and cement. The capacity is about 2,500 litres. Notice the pipes that carry the water from two sources. It comes down into the 'first flush' where there is a valve made using reducing collars and a 500ml pet bottle that acts as a valve. Once the dirt carried by the first flow of water fills up the container at the bottom, the valve stops it and all the subsequent flow will be diverted to the filter can kept on top of the tank. The filter contains gravel of two sizes - the bigger is at the bottom. I have layered by 6 inches of sand and covered it by a 2-inch sponge. There is a gap of about 8 inches on top to allow water to fill up and percolate. The water when it first enters the downspout, is filtered by a 'conical mesh filter' that keeps all the leaves and small twigs out. It's working well, though when the inflow is too much, it overflows out of the filter -- outflow into the tank is slower than inflow. Some water is lost in heavy rains. But then, this overflow is allowed to seep into the soil outside the tank. I have made the ground level so that water should not flow like a stream. Importance of saving this water is increasingly creating awareness as the ground water resources are fast depleting due to paving the earth in all places. Last week's rain has this tank filled up to 15 inches. My younger d is in the picture. It faces east. I painted it white after I took this picture as the roll had to be finished. This was an important project for me and it cost me a bit, but I know it will be worth it. I'm using water for toilet flushing from another smaller tank that collects water from another downspout close to my old tank that I use for watering the garden. Now this one adds my resource of rainwater for my plants.

The creeper is the Passiflora foetida with red fruits, hollowish, containing a few seeds.

Dinu