Setting Up Your Rainwater Recuperation System

In the third Mesa of the Indian reserve of Hopi, in the north of Arizona, stand one of the oldest villages of the United States. Oraibi was founded more than 1000 years ago, and it is still the home to a traditional and discreet population.

During the 13th century, an important drought forced the people of Hopi to desert many villages in the region and to reinforce their organization.

Arabia was one of its concentration points. In the borders of the village, overhanging the desert, an impressive stone slab seems to anchor the earth’s habitations of Pueblo.

Like a foundation, a life promise, it’s the totality of the natural and human structures that goes toward the rainwater recuperation system, with hundreds of wells dug directly on the rock.

Rainwater recuperation is an ancestral practice, and more than a tradition with a pragmatic goal, this organization perfectly align itself with the natural laws of energy optimization and offer at the same time a sustainable system and ecologically stable.

Nowadays, even if this method is often ignored by most of the modern organizations, it remains a pillar for every prepper and survivalist. Here are some important points to understand the situation we live regarding this resource.

Setting-up

1 – The underground reservoir

The advantage of the underground reservoir is its important volume and the fact that it’s completely invisible.

The disadvantage of this type of construction is the biggest investment it requires both financial and manually, add to that a hard maintenance, and having in most cases to install an electric pump.

This rainwater recuperation system is interesting for those who have a rural habitation. A weekend should be enough for the installation, and once completed, this system will respond to your need in the long term while being discreet.

If the pump is wired to a solar panel and a manual overlap, you got a completely sustainable system.

2 – Surface reservoir:

In the last decade, many companies proposing recuperation systems have been competing with the underground reservoirs, in both the containing capacity and the discretion.

One of these barrels is the HOG, made by an Australian company. This modular system is quite seducing by its shape, and detach itself from the cylindrical shapes to adapt itself to its environment.

With a capacity of 180L by “HOG” and the choice of many colors, it becomes difficult to determine its function once installed, and can be extremely discreet.

3 – The cylindrical barrel

The recuperation pillar of rainwater remains the 55-gallon water barrel, that can be easily attached to your rain gutter in a few hours. The installation of these barrels is very easy and doesn’t require any extraordinary competence.

The advantage here is the low investment, and the possibility to move it, transform it and adapt it to your system. The use of the gravity of the distribution creates complete energy independence.

The principal disadvantage here is the visibility of the system, but you can still camouflage it with plants or other structure.

No matter what the rainwater recuperation system you are choosing, an underground reservoir, surface reservoir or the 200L barrels,  your action is sustainable and will have a big impact on your daily life, while giving you the possibility to reduce or even to eliminate the impact of a rupture of water in your area.

Now that we have seen the most important tools to consider for water filtration, let us understand together the importance of this unique resource.

Our relation with water:

The modern relation we entertain with water is alarming. More than the systematic waste it is experiencing, our hydraulic networks rely on a total disrespect and a total abstraction of the reality attached to the universe of water.

This relationship is extremely complex and influences various spheres like politics, ecology and wealth sharing.

For someone who wants to survive in a situation of chaos, being independent is for sure the main goal of his journey.

In the short term, our relation to water reveals a weak system of support. With an ecological disaster, natural catastrophes, shortage, contamination or in the case of a simple water cut, the survivalist anticipates his water needs.

He prepares a personalized reserve and secures some important tools to prevent, reduce and eliminate the consequences of an interruption of the system who supports us.

In the long run, the available stocks and materials will only be capable of entertaining the lack for a short period of time. Therefore, it’s important to prepare a rainwater recuperation system that can provide you with clean water adapted to a long water stress period.

If the construction of wells and the presence of direct sources of water that can be controlled and secured is an advantage for sure, rainwater recuperation is still an autarchic method that should support our system.

From an energetic point of view, rainwater recuperation with barrels and reservoirs must be organized for an optimized return.

In a simple way, the effort and the energy deployed to collect that water should not surpass the benefices received from the transaction. Like in Oraibi, the heartbeat of the village depends on its water supply.

It’s interesting to take a look at modern agriculture, not in term of the food produced, but in water transaction. For example, a salad is almost completely composed of water.

When it’s transported from a continent to the other, going from the farmer to the consumer, it’s more transportation of liquid than of solid foods.

The massive transportation of water is more and more expensive, both economically and ecologically. Setting up water collecting facilities is, therefore, a responsible action to reduce the pollution of our planet.

The impact:

Water is very expensive, and tomorrow it will cost a lot more. The water stress on the planet is one of these problems that are not going to be solved in the next years.

An invasive intention of privatization is, for some giant corporations, a philosophy that will be released in the future, with or without our consent. For a moral person, this situation should set an alarm signal and push him to take immediate actions.

The rainwater recuperation system is a decisive construction that can be totally self-sustaining. This installation alone can help us save hundreds of dollars every year, especially if we mix it with a permaculture system like the elevated gardens.

But the impact of this organization doesn’t stop at our fruits and salads, more than that, the barrels and reservoirs offer complete security in the case of losing our water supplies.

So if we are in a normal situation or in an emergency case, building this system will bring us huge profits.