Advice on Supplies for Harvesting Rain Water for Home Use in the Rainshadow on the Olympic Peninsula

Greetings,

I see a lot of threads here on so many topics related to water catchment. If there are threads that relate more specifically to what I'm seeking can someone please point me?

We live on 5 aces in Sequim, WA, and our well doesn't nearly keep up with our frugal use. We recently finished building our house and need to sort out our water systems so we aren't buying truck loads of water every other month. We have a 2000 gallon in ground cement cistern, and we have two above ground plastic tanks, a 1500 gallon and a 500 gallon. I'm guessing that more tanks are in our future, and likely a pond.

We have an ephemeral stream that runs through the property 4-5 months out of the year. Our house and shed have metal roofs, and I'm thinking to run water from the shed roof and stream to fill the above ground tanks, and to send water from the house roof into the in ground cistern that is fed by the well and also gets filled with city water every so often.

We don't drink or cook with the water out of the tap, it always goes through a big berkey first. I'm thinking I need some kind of filter for the water that comes off the roof before it goes into the cistern, and likely a uv light somewhere in the mix of coming in or going out,  then potentially a second filter for the water coming into the house?

Thank you.

I am not sure this answer what you are really asking though have you thought about using a simple sand filter?

Peter, I have a bit of experience with the topic. My signature has a link to rainwater harvestinh. Perhaps read it and come back to be with questions.
For a start I would make theses suggestions for consideration;
- Have a storage tank which can hold 6 months supply of water
- fit a rainfall collection system that will work in your area.
- do you get snow etc, remember I live in rural Australia.
- dont bother about water treatment systems, a large storage tank will address that issue.
- dont mix city water with the other stuff, keep it separate.
- do you use much town water?
- fit first flush units to the roof gutters.
Tell me about the area.
- is it dusty?
- do you have trees around the house?
- what do you wish to use water on?
- how is water drawn from the creek?

I have found out this about the area.
- is one of the driest places in western Washington.
- 17" of rain a year, much the same as where I live.

I am going to suggest the following subject to a better understanding.
- draw water from the stream to fill a big tank, separate from the other sources of water.
- Direct all roof water to another tank if possible.
- the existing small above ground tanks could be used to catch water from remote sheds and pump it back to the large one.
- i would consider not using the well.
- you will be able to drink rainwater without treatment.
- Dont mix the different sources of water, mainly in case something goes bad, you can find the cause.

Rainwater can be used in the household
Creek water gardens and toilet flushing
Town water back up only.

John C Daley wrote:Peter, I have a bit of experience with the topic. My signature has a link to rainwater harvesting. Perhaps read it and come back to be with questions.
For a start I would make theses suggestions for consideration;
- Have a storage tank which can hold 6 months supply of water
- fit a rainfall collection system that will work in your area.
- do you get snow etc, remember I live in rural Australia.
- dont bother about water treatment systems, a large storage tank will address that issue.
- dont mix city water with the other stuff, keep it separate.
- do you use much town water?
- fit first flush units to the roof gutters.
Tell me about the area.
- is it dusty?
- do you have trees around the house?
- what do you wish to use water on?
- how is water drawn from the creek?

I have found out this about the area.
- is one of the driest places in western Washington.
- 17" of rain a year, much the same as where I live.

I am going to suggest the following subject to a better understanding.
- draw water from the stream to fill a big tank, separate from the other sources of water.
- Direct all roof water to another tank if possible.
- the existing small above ground tanks could be used to catch water from remote sheds and pump it back to the large one.
- i would consider not using the well.
- you will be able to drink rainwater without treatment.
- Dont mix the different sources of water, mainly in case something goes bad, you can find the cause.

Rainwater can be used in the household
Creek water gardens and toilet flushing
Town water back up only.

Thank you so much John! I'm finally getting the time to reply here, and hopefully you are willing to weigh in further about all this. I did go and read the original post you referenced here.

I'll do my best to address your questions or suggestions.

Regarding having enough tanks to hold 6 months worth of water, that is a great goal! Finances dictate that we cannot do this right away, but likely by this fall we'll be able to do that in time for our next rainy season.

We don't get much snow near our house (which I'm sad about, but oh well! The mountains are close!)

Are there other reasons why you suggest not mixing city water with rain water other than is something goes wrong or is bad? In the long run I could see this, especially with creek water I would not mix that, but for now with us having the ability to store 4000 gallons in 3 tanks, and our well not keeping up with needs and us sometimes needing to buy water, it would be much better for us to mix rain and city water at least for a time. We have had to buy loads of water about every 30-60 days at about $250 for 1750 gallons.

Our area is not dusty. It doesn't rain hardly at all for 3 or so months in summer, but there's so much forest in the area and we're 4 miles from the coast so the air stays somewhat moist. No trees around the house.

Water use will be normal household stuff and garden, horses, orchard, trees. I haven't set up anything to draw water from the creek yet, but have been planning to do something like burying a bucket in the stream bed surrounded with rocks to help keep the water clean and then using a filtered pump to draw it out? I haven't researched this at all so better ideas may come from that or suggestions you may have.

Curious why you suggest not using the well?

Thanks,

Peter.

In my experience wells can be expensive to establish, often draw unsafe water, need power to lift.
Wells world wide are lowering the water table and causing other problems.
Evidence of pollution can be a problem. Overall, rainfall collection may be a better method in the end.
Mixing water from different sources can be a problem if one is polluted unknowingly.
Maybe use each tank for a specific role.
I dont get rain for many months here in Australia, but if you can capture it its handy.
Rainwater can clean itself given time and volume to settle matter and oxygenate from the air.
Do you get mist, that can be captured as well.