Once bitten, twice shy...

We experienced a break in our water supply at the end of December, at the hottest time of the year.

The mains pipe, from Overberg Water, our water supplier, got damaged by a farmer's tractor, which resulted in our being without water for 5 l-o-n-g, h-o-t days.

So - extra rain water barrels were ordered with a dash of speed LOL

And RMan, and John, our local labourer, threw two slabs to house the tanks - one in the front, and one at the back side.

I wasn't sure about cutting it into the ground,
but it does make sense.  If ever the tank is
empty, the "walls" will prevent it blowing over.

The slab before the rainwater tank was installed

As the front tank is right at our entrance / patio, we sunk it into the ground slightly - to prevent it being "in your face" when you arrive.

On the right is the rain water tank connected
to our drainpipe.  The one on the left is
connected to our mains water supply.

We placed another one at the back of the house, next to an existing rain barrel.  However, this extra one is connected to our mains water...

The pump is dual purpose.  RMan has installed
it in such a way that it can pump the rainwater
up to a higher storage tank, or, at the flick of a
lever, it will supply fresh water to the house.

And RMan has installed a small 35lt / minute, 350 watt water pump so that if the water is ever cut off again, we don't have to schlep heavy black plastic boxes of water into the house in order to do the washing up / have a wash, etc.  We can now just pump it in and carry on with our lives as normal.  And the wattage of the pump is perfect for use with our solar system.

Our 5000 lt rainwater and freshwater storage
tanks - almost a pigeon pair LOL  What
you can't see is the pipe from the tap to
the top of the freshwater tank to create
the circulation"

Finally, clever RMan - the water pump is a "flooded" type of in-line pump, which means that it has to be filled with water in order to work, and not burn out.  RMan has linked another pipe directly from an outside tap to the top of the tank, so that when the pump is on, the tap will be turned on, and if no water is currently being used inside the house, water will be fed back to the tank via this open tap, thereby causing the required flooding / circulation, and not wasting a precious drop through just having a tap running for no reason.

The picture explains what RMan constructed

Now, I would never have thought of that!  My sole contribution to it all is...

My rainwater filter

... a rain water filter, which consists of a scrap piece of 80% shadecloth, which   has been inserted inside the lid, between the downpipe and the tank.  I wondered how effective it would be...

The proof is in the pudding, or should that be
the debris?

... as you can see, it had already caught loads of bird crud and debris which obviously collected in the gutters - and we haven't hit the rainy season yet.  That doesn't make it drinkable, but it certainly should help with the quality of water which we're storing.

Yipeeeeeeee!  We now have 20 000 ltrs of rain water, and 5 000 ltrs of fresh water - on call - for whenever we need it.