The collection of rainwater can be very useful in rainy areas, and also in those in which rainfall is concentrated in a specific season, in order to be able to take advantage of it depending on the needs and quantities collected.
The rainwater recovery systemsIn fact, they satisfy different needs (irrigation, filling pools or ponds, drinking water, etc.), although their choice will also depend on the match that can be obtained based on the rainfall patterns that we have in each area.
The simplest solutions
The recovery of rainwater by installing a barrel that collects the water that falls from the ceiling through the gutters, which is automatically stored, without having to be aware of anything, except disconnecting it in the winter months so that ice does not form or opening the valves if the storm is important, in order to that does not overflow. Once installed, you just have to wait for it to rain at least the first time and start using it through a small tap.
Be that as it may, with barrels bought or made with our little hands, we can use them individually or install several to increase their capacity, and it would even be possible to stack several horizontally and connect them through a distribution system that flows into a single tap.
If we are looking for something even simpler, Let's put drums without a lid, by way of the traditional bucket, although we will be limited when it comes to extracting the water (without a tap in which to connect a hose, put love for example) and also when trying to fill them, since the rain is not always so strong as to make the system productive.
In addition, we will have to place a mosquito net to cover them if we do not want the water to fill with insects. Otherwise, it will be fun to decorate the barrels with green motifs (drawing flowers, a frog, raindrops) or as our imagination dictates to achieve a better integration in the garden.
External or underground cisterns
Another option, this time complicated but also much more ambitious, requires a few underground facilities. Basically, it is about burying a cistern that is fed with the rainwater that is collected through the gutters or other recovery systems, to finally create a water tank that we can use for different uses.
In general, underground cisterns supply water to homes or industrial facilities, such as farms or factories, supplying the water through pumps that allow it to reach any point, including a first or second floor or any other, as long as the pumping system allows it.
The cistern does not have to be underground, but it is usually convenient for aesthetic and practical reasons, since its dimensions are mammoth enough to rule out that possibility. However, there is the alternative of flexible external cisterns, which allow their transfer if they are small in size and, in any case, their location is easier and can even be hidden.
They are bags specially designed for this use, which are filled with water, made of a very resistant material, and which allow such diverse uses as gardening, watering a garden or drinking it. As long as the water meets the necessary hygienic and sanitary conditions for one use or another, the use is decided by us. In the case of wanting to ingest it, it would be convenient to carry out previous analyzes and, if necessary, carry out a purification by means of ozonator systems or any other that guarantees a minimum healthiness of the water.
In short, it is about choosing the system that best suits to the needs we have, the budget we have and the weather conditions of the specific place. Finally, it will be as easy as placing a container under the gutter, which can be from a barrel to a cistern that feeds on it or doing something as complicated as building an underground cistern, an investment that will pay off in the medium term. At an environmental level, it will be from day one.
Practical ingenuity
In addition to these popular and nowadays unsurprising options, curious ideas have emerged that can also inspire us when it comes to taking advantage of rainwater. At a particular level, nothing prevents let's divert the gutter until it reaches the pool. The idea is brilliant, although it could easily overflow on days of major storms.
And, if we talk about ingenuity, we could not finish this post without winking at an imaginative project difficult to match when proposing something different but not less practical. Is named RainDrops, and consists of a great system of bottles that collect rainwater individually thanks to its communication with the gutter, allowing its use in situ or by extracting them for independent use.
Fun, useful and ingenious to the max. An environmental gesture that shows the extent to which it is possible to find new solutions that make our lives easier while helping us to take care of our pockets and the planet. In addition, AirDrop has great potential to help rural communities with water access problems in developing countries. A round invention.
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