Rain overflow feature?

When the water tanks are full, I want to have the overflow go into something decorative and fun or useful.  I'd like any ideas you may have on how to do it.

1. Watering some kind of otherwise hardy plants

2. Running a boar scarer or other noise maker like chimes

3. Feeding an indoor water fountain that only runs during overflow rains

4. Perhaps some crafting use?

5. Perhaps growing some short lived seasonal plants like nettle for fiber?

Any other ideas?

My suggestion would be to pile up some rocks and make a water fall similar to this thread:

https://permies.com/t/65359/sculpture/art/water-art-water-features-water

Or make a pond or build a hugelkultur bed as described in this thread:

https://permies.com/t/127073/store-water

I'm thinking of making a wicking bed in the site where I hope to build my polytunnel. My idea is that it will take the overflow from my rainwater barrels. Currently I have a hose connected to the top of one barrel, and it just overflows onto the grass a little way away from the house, that happens to be where I hope to put the polytunnel.

A tiered rain garden could be useful.

Roxanne Sterling-Astor wrote:A tiered rain garden could be useful.

Could you expand on this, please? A search on permies for "tiered garden" only shows 2 results.

I get the general idea, but how would you specifically break down which plants go where?  How do you make sure it doesnt overwater them?  Whats the priority on different plants and what kind of plants do you put in, since you can never be sure if they will get a lot or a little?  Ornamentals? Herbs?

I was thinking i could probably distribute it to some apple trees.

Parkrose permaculture has a video on YouTube


As far as plant choices that will be site specific and choices are based on your rainfall and overall climate.
Natives.. trees.. perennials depending on your needs and desires for the spot.
I do hope this helps.. don't be afraid to experiment

one more short..

Here's an oldie but goodie to inspire you (although not really answering your question):
https://permies.com/t/16792/thinking-incorporating-rain-collection-system

The issue is complicated if you can't give some idea of how much water, or how often this will happen.
In my climate, we need a really huge tank that might fill in the winter storms, but come possibly as early as April, we can get an inch or less of rain, so the tank simply will not overflow from early spring until mid-Nov. Yes, there have been some exceptional years, but they are once a decade or longer apart.

My Sisters' climate may get a summer drought, but is more likely to get a thunderstorm every week or 3, when their relatively small tanks overflow regularly. Many people still put barrels under their down spouts, but it is more to eliminate/reduce/delay flooding, than expecting it to hold most of the water.

If this were a regular occurrence, and you can use it effectively, it would be cool to generate a little electricity with the overflow (or possible, with the water before it reaches the tank, to capture more power.)

If you have lots of time and creativity, making it run some sort of Rube Goldberg creation would also be totally cool.

Beyond that, it sounds as if you need plants that either can survive boom and bust, or grow so incredibly quickly, that you can be sure they will go from seed to something useful or beautiful within a week or so. Building it like a wicking bed with a reservoir at the bottom, could give the plants much more time before the soil got too dry.