Rainwater Storage, A System for Hosers

Here's how you can save a lot on your summer water bills and help the environment a little at the same time.  The system I built stores 165 gallons of water, which is enough to water our large garden pretty thoroughly every other day for about two weeks.

The Water Tanks

The first thing was to find three 55 gallon drums.  A great place to find these is your local car-wash.  The soap comes in these containers, and they're closed up except for two 2" or so caps on the top.  This is a good thing because you want the system sealed up as much as you can so it doesn't become a mosquito breeding ground.  They should cost less than $10 if you find some locally.

Gutter Modifications

Next, you'll probably have to modify your drain spout.  The easiest way to re-point the spout is to add a few flexible downspout sections to the system, then you can point it wherever you need to.  These cost a few dollars at your local building supply center.  Unscrew or otherwise open the top of your collector barrel, line the hole with some sort of cloth (mine uses an old sock) to keep mosquitos out, and then mount the spout so it will direct water directly into the collector bucket.

Support Structure

You will also want to build a stand for them to sit on if you plan to use a hose to dispense the water- gravity is plentiful and free.  They should go as high as you can get them while still having a safe and sturdy support structure.  Mine consists of about 5 2x4s, with the supporting boards stored with the wider side vertical for extra strength.  They're cross-reinforced now (after the photo was taken) with bracing boards against the legs to prevent any left-to-right shifting which would lead to a collapse.  You should make very sure that the structure can handle the weight, which is about 8lbs per gallon in any case, and prevent children or pets from playing under it.

Connecting Additional Barrels

In my installation (see the picture) the center drum serves as the collector and the dispenser.  The barrels on either side are connected agbout 4" above the bottom with hoses to keep each container at about the same water level; as the water in the collector barrel increases, it will flow in roughly equal measure into the side barrels to equalize the pressure.  Same thing as it drains.  The hardware for connecting them is easy to get at your local Ace or other hardware store.  I cut up some of an old garden hose to connect the white barrels with PVC fittings, and used some clear tubing for the white-black connection with metal fittings.  They both work ok, though the metal ones gave me more trouble.

Connecting The Hoses

Finally you need an overflow drain and a hose connection so you can walk around the yard hosing things of course.

For the overflow, I simply drilled a hole (about 4" from the top of the black barrel) that was the same diameter as the male end of a garden hose, and screwed it directly into that hole, no fittings required.  Perfect fit, and I can direct the rest of that hose wherever I want excess water to run.  If you get very heavy rainfall you may want to use a bigger tube, be creative.  But give excess water somewhere to go other than directly against your foundations.

For the mighty hose-connection I used a copper fitting which screwed into a drilled hole in the barrel without any leaking problems, and hooked up an old garden hose.  This fitting is about 2" above the bottom of the barrel, which I did to ensure that if any grit builds up it will drain into the hose before it drains into the other barrels.

I can now wander around the yard, and as long as I don't hold the hose above the level of the water in the barrels I get a nice steady stream of water.  My plants are pretty happy about it I must say, and it is rather satisfying to me as well.