Water Catchment

A couple of jamokes came over to work on my water catchment system.

My catchment was highly inefficient. The downspout ran to the ground, under the ground, back up and finally reduced from a 3” pipe to a 3/4” pipe. The resistance caused much of the water to backup and go into the overflow before it reached the tanks. The pipes were easily clogged with debris that accumulates in the gutter.

A couple of elbows and a coupling later and the downspout feed the tank from the top with a three inch piece of PVC. A cotton T shirt was stretched over the top of the tank and covered with a screen. Any non dissolved debris is readily caught and cleaned up.

Minutes after it was completed it started raining. Even in the light drizzle I was accumulating water faster that I had been during torrents. Keep it simple.

The two tanks are connected by a three inch pipe with a “T” in the middle. This has been used to drain off overflow. I need to remove the “T” so that the water flows from the first tank into the second tank and attach another pipe to the second tank and connect it to the drain. This should be fun. Trying to insert a coupling or union on rigid PVC attached to tanks that weigh many tons. I guess I'll have to drain the second tank to pull this off.

It cleared up and I sharpened my machete and made a path almost clear across this island.