A super-deluxe underground tank can run as much as a dollar a gallon. (Problems in math? This means a 10,000-gallon tank will run you $10,000.) Even if you could afford this, it's not ideal for most city dwellers. Polyethylene tanks run about the same in cost and while galvanized tanks are cheaper, even the best ones will eventually rust and corrode and will cost you more in the long run when they have to be replaced.
Fiberglass tanks are preferred by many rainwater harvesters. L&F Manufacturing in Giddings makes FDA-approved, gel-coated tanks ranging in size from a few hundred to 30,000 gallons. When I talked with owner Shelby Wright about his tanks, he said they had several on order for homeowners in the Dripping Springs area and that many ranchers were replacing their old cement cisterns, which they were tired of constantly patching, with fiberglass. A 4000-gallon tank costs about $1800 delivered.
To familiarize yourself with the general options, take a look at Rainwater Collection Systems, a video available at GardenVille starring rainwater enthusiasts. You'll learn that we all use rainwater. The difference between buying yours from the city and collecting your own is that the city's water runs across parking lots and highways, through fields laced with pesticides, down storm gutters, and into the lakes before the city pulls it out and adds chemicals to treat the water for pathogens and hardness. Your personal rainwater hits nothing but your roof and gutters before it's collected. It has a hardness of zero, no calcium chloride, salts in the 30 ppm range compared to 360 ppm for city water and 2400+ ppm in some well water, and as rainwater user Jane Sims puts it, "It just feels good."
The type of container and the complexity of your system will have everything to do with what you intend to use the water for. If you simply want some rainwater for your African violets, a recycled 55-gallon drum from Barrel City USA tucked under the downspout will do the trick. In some parts of the country, you can't drink collected rainwater because air pollution is too intense, laced with volatile organic compounds, petrochemicals, and lead. Fortunately, Austin isn't yet one of those places. However, once you decide to drink the water or use it to water edible plants, a number of variables must be considered: your roof surface, storing the water out of UV light to eliminate algae growth, filtering out leaf debris, storing enough water to meet all your needs, and pumping the water to where it's needed. If this is starting to sound a lot like rocket science to you, companies like Rain Harvest and Rain Man Waterworks can handle the entire project, from design and installation, to pumping and purification. All you have to do is wait for rain. n
L&F Manufacturing
PO Box 578, Hwy 290 E
Giddings, TX 78942
800/237-5791
Fiberglass tanks up to 30,000 gallons.
Barrel City USA
8401 S. 1st Street
Austin, Texas 78748
282-1328
Recycled drums, barrels, and buckets.
Rain Harvest
Scott Lockhart
12014 Scribe Drive
Austin, Texas 78759
832-0737 or 800/643-6404
Design and installation of collection systems.
Rain Man Waterworks
C.E. Gibson
PO Box 972
Dripping Springs, TX 78620
512/858-7020
Custom builds complete systems for rainwater collection.
Rainwater Collection Systems
Video guide by Gardening Naturally Prod.
Available at GardenVille Nursery
8648 Old Bee Caves Rd.
288-6113
We first encountered serious rainwater collection on a trip to Belize where the groundwater in some coastal towns like Dangrigia is so contaminated that rainwater is the only option, unless you choose to ignore the giant hand-lettered signs warning of CHOLERA! In Placencia, we stayed at an inn where every cabin came with its own cistern. Water was plentiful since it rained every damned day, even during the dry season. It was here, in the tropics, that we decided we wanted to harvest rainwater, too.
Although we plan on installing a serious system in our new house, we didn't want to spend a bunch of loot on the shop container. We started checking out galvanized tanks. In typical stroke-of-luck fashion for Richard, he was in Polk Feed asking about their tanks when a farmer overheard his questions. It just so happened he had a tank out in his field he was trying to get rid of. Richard took a look at this perfectly suitable 1200-gallon tank, paid the farmer a hundred dollars, and hauled it out to our land. Also in typical hit-the-ground-running fashion, my man had the shop guttered the next day, just in time to catch our first decent rain this year. In two hours, the tank was half full; a week later it overflowed.
There's something precious about this water, a sense that it belongs to Richard and me. We dish it out generously to the new fruit trees and grapes and roses we planted, but we don't waste it. The dogs love it. It feels good to wash our hands in it. I like standing on the old lawn chair and peering at it and on warm days pressing my face on the cold tank. I can't wait until it's really hot (yes, I can) so I can jump in it and pretend I'm on Petticoat Junction. - Suzy Banks