rainwater harvesting system part two, cowboys

RAINWATER HARVESTING SYSTEM PART TWO
we have a rainwater harvesting system as our only water system
our well which we used for irrigation and as a back up died last summer

put the system in myself using a do-it-yourself guide from a popular how-to book on this

recently posted how the water gets from the roof to the tanks
this is how the water gets from the tanks to the house

have about six tanks that collect the water for the house       they have to be below the lowest gutter in the system in order for the system to work with gravity

when the faucet in the house is turned on the water leaves the tanks goes through
a one way check valve   the water pump pulls the water from the tank to the
filtering unit
the water then  passes first through a 15 micron woven filter that is changed monthly
then it passes through a longer  5 micron  filter then to a 2 micron carbon filter
which captures any odors or chemicals in the water  
these two filters are changed every 3-6 months
then the water passes into a housing that has an ultraviolet light that sterilizes the water
this ultraviolet light is changed annually

every 6 months a chlorox/water mixture is placed in the last housing that holds
the ultraviolet light     the faucets in the house are turned on until the chlorox/water mixture has reached the house     the faucets are then turned off for 4 hours     this sterilizes the water lines
this mixture is then flushed out when the water is turned back on

am the water man-change filters, keep gutters clean, change tank socks, move water around to keep enough available, unfreeze pipes-but it is all worth it to have fresh rainwater to drink and bath with and wash clothes with

you do learn to conserve water-take navy showers, flush with shower water, reuse sink water for
irrigation, use washing machine water for irrigation, and dont leave water on for brushing teeth or shaving
if its yellow let it mellow

the water tastes so good     it is hard to drink water from a place that has treated water

mistakes ive made are broke ultraviolet light once    that sucked big time as was without water system for 2 days until got new uv light in to replace the broken one (learned to save an old one) left faucet on and drained out all my water, water line froze several times(think ive found the site it freezes), busted pipe that connected filters together(wasnt fun as had to take the whole unit apart), and got wrong filters

americans need to conserve our water as we are doing(we have to do it) as
clean potable water is going to be one of the limiting factors in growth as our population increases
in this area this has put limitations on development in some areas
many new homes in the hill country put in rainwater systems as their only water system

even a 50 gallon tank catching water off the roof helps your plants will love it

COWBOYS
cowboys looked bad last night     hope they got that out of their system

SMOKING
IF YOU SMOKE QUIT
if you smoke and are genetically kin to me you have enough health risk factors as it is
without making it worse

the organicgreen doctor