The Roof Water Flywheel (Strategic Water Reserve for Any Garden Endeavor) - Part 1
The skies open and water pours from them.
The problem is that it is either too much at once, too little, or too spaced out. If we don’t catch it, this life-giving thing just washes away and may even cause erosion along the way. If we catch it, though, we will have enough to drink, grow food, and raise animals - for free and under our control.
We can catch the water directly from the ground or from our roof tops.
Catching water from our roof tops is a source of drinkable water and can leverage any garden flywheel or make any house more independent.
In this edition, in 6,2 minutes or less:
#1 You have been lied to that the only safe water to drink is municipally sanctioned water.
#2 It seems like harvesting water from the roof is a plausible idea.
#3 Your house is the best place to start harvesting water, because you can supply your household needs and water your garden - it is a flywheel.
You have been lied to that the only safe water to drink is municipally sanctioned water.
Today, all over the world we are educated about how people had poor, contaminated and dangerous water in the past, but modern society solved all these problems by developing running water from a central safe source. The advances in sanitation and public health are undeniable, but they also created problems, which can be solved by catching water from our roof tops.
Especially for gardeners and farmers, having enough water is crucial, and depending on municipal water can be expensive and fail you if the region you are in is facing a drought period, because the water reservoir can be drained. On top of that, these centralized water supplies are under political pressure, and the quality standards are out of your control. Decentralized sourced water from your roof top doesn’t. You do have to take responsibility and store it in a way to keep its freshness, though. That being said, if the air is clean, rain water is drinkable.
If we plan accordingly, we can catch enough water to supply all our needs. As a rule of thumb, the more frequent rain events, the smaller your water reservoir needs to be. On the other hand, the rarer the rain events are, the bigger your water reservoir should be, because the water you gathered during the rain event needs to last until the next one (a future letter will dive into how to do this calculation).
Your roof tops are your harvesting water net.
It seems like harvesting water from the roof is a plausible idea.
How do you do it safely and reliably, then? First of all, all surfaces that are exposed to rain are potential harvesting places, especially if they are made of an inert material and are off the ground, just like roofs.
- Equip your roof with gutters.
- Place a water tank of enough size near your house in an advantageous spot.
- Install a contraption to reject the first water flow off your roof during a rain event to wash your roof clean before storing water from it in your water tank.
Every roof made of inert material is perfect, like corrugated steel, clay tiles, and other synthetic materials, except roofs made of wood shingles, or thatch, because your water might get saturated with tannin (they are not inert in this sense). Other considerations are:
- To exclude insects, birds, or rodents from your tanks, install a U-shaped pipe (just like the one used in plumbing) at the entry and exit, a sealed tank roof, and an overflow pipe emptying to a gravel-filled swale.
- Allow the biofilm that will eventually develop to remain in the tank by fitting taps and outlet pipes 15-20 cm above any tank floor. The biofilm is a velvety film made of beneficial algae and other microorganisms sitting on the tank base and walls, that purify, oxygenate the water, and buffer pH.
- Place a bag of limestone, shell, or marble chips suspended in the tank to create alkaline water, which prevents heavy metals from dissolving in water and being consumed by us.
- Clean gutters out regularly or install a leaf-free gutter, as shown in the figure.
Your house is the best place to start harvesting water, because you can supply your household needs and water your garden - it is a flywheel.
- You already have the expensive infrastructure installed - the roof.
- The technology for harvesting water is cheap and easily available - make your own, as seen in the figures, or buy a commercially available product.
- Water tanks are easily available (A future letter will talk about the different options for water storage).
- Once you install your harvesting water system, it will last a long time with minimal maintenance.
- The only work you have to do to maintain it is to clean the gutter once in a while and make sure the water reaches the water tank clean.
- You have water at your front door.
- You control your water quality and availability.
- You become drought-proof (if you harvest enough - how to harvest enough will be the next letter’s theme, as already promised).
- You have enough water to water your home-garden.
- You don’t pay for water.
- If your neighbors do the same, we will build a decentralized strategic water supply chain.
- You can have both - the municipal water and your roof water.
- The caveat is that the air must be clean. Anti-air pollution policies are crucial.
If you have a nursery or plan to build one, you can catch water from its roof, leveraging the roof you created.
Every drop of water that is not stored or allowed to soak into the soil is wasted water.
Every drop of water that is wasted, is lost potential. If we catch water, we create more security for us and unlimited potential to garden - a decentralized water supply system. As long as it continues to rain (by conserving forests that are the main source of rain) and the air is clean, we can rely on rain as a source of water.
If you were going to do just one thing, catch water.
