Rain water storage

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Rtdowdy
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Hi all! I’m thinking a lot about the use of Swales, rain barrels, and other water storage devices as were planning spaces and wondered if we’ll go over any of the how-tos for planning and using those in our gardens?

Things like which is best to use in which scenario, how to use stored water out of rain barrels (distance with a hose?), maybe even some excellent plants for swales.

Thanks!
Kristin
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Considering this too!
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CoastRichard
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following. interested in low pressure pump system to distribute from cistern into drip irrigation.

thoughts on using chlorinated city water? seems like one of those obvious to avoid given how we are trying to increase soil microbial life. but...cannot yet store enough rainwater.
TomF
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I wanted to look into rain water capture from our roof when we did a renovation 2010 and had all the weeping tile replaced. It was not firmly in the plan or budget and then, I was not into gardening at all and now kick myself. I also realize now that a 200l rain barrel is quite inadequate and have been contemplating how and where I could set something up even if I could get a number of them placed on each corner and connected via hose so they would act as one. That could be a nightmare of you start springing leaks. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link. When I watch Charles Dowding fill his 2 gallon watering can in no time flat, dipping it into his rain barrel, it sure inspires me as I do a lot of hand watering in my garden.

In my back yard, which is mostly forest, I have thought about some mini swales or some way to slow the water a bit but I don't know how much soil I even have for water storage as I think there I bedrock pretty quick here where I live.
Rtdowdy
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Yes! I would love to hear about pumps too I have some front yard space that is not close to irrigation. We have 2 rain barrels that are backed up to our chicken coop and have gutters running with a down spout directly into the barrels. They're so small and we have very wet times here (Z 8b).

A permaculture group I'm in suggested reading "Water for Every Farm" by Yeomans - it goes into Yeomans Keyline Plan. Gosh it's really advanced stuff for my little space right now though.
Luanne
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I have purchased a couple of wine barrels and would like to know how to set them up and how to use the water from them with a hose if possible.
Kristin
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Rtdowdy wrote: Wed 12-Jan-2022, 07:06 We have 2 rain barrels that are backed up to our chicken coop and have gutters running with a down spout directly into the barrels. They're so small and we have very wet times here (Z 8b).
Same here!

For others considering, I found this calculation helpful from the CRD website for those on the South Island to better understand how much storage you might need during the heavier rainfall season:

“The annual rainfall for the Capital Region is about 1000 mm, with the majority falling from October to March. An average of 200 mm falls from April to September.
• To calculate the amount of rain your roof will collect, determine the area of your roof, and the depth of rainfall in mm. Rain collected (litres) = rainfall amount (mm) x rooftop area (m2)
• Remember to divide the amount by the number of downspouts you have to determine how much will be collected from each downspout.
• Connect storage containers together to increase your harvesting capacity.”
Serafina
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I am very interested in this topic too! Last season during the heat wave we were on stage 4 water restrictions - no watering allowed at all! We only had 2 small rain barrels on the deck so quickly set up two 1000l tanks to our downspouts but it doesn’t seem to be a very efficient system (hose is connected and flows downward to the garden so takes a lot of time to water). I have also just been researching swales and would love to make one as I have some drainage issues - an area on my grass and raspberry garden right next to it gets very water logged when there’s heavy rainfall.
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