Summary Water is free in Northern Arizona. Just catch it and store it. The Four Hills receive 12-16 inches of annual precipitation. With a surface area of 2500 sq.ft. the Preserve's roof catches roughly 1,300 gallons of water per inch of rain. This can amount to 15,600 gallons of water in a 12-inch year.
Schematic
Requirements I designed the raincatch system to:
1. provide twice my annual water needs. This amounts to 15,000 gallons.
2. catch our water-rich hail storms. 6" gutters help contain the hail slurry .
3. use a minimum of electric energy. Only one pump draws power.
4. hook-up to a conventional domestic water system.
5. allow infrequent deliveries of hauled water.
6. screen out animals and insects larger than 0.25 inches.
7. rinse the roof surface. Gutter drains open to flush away the first rains.
8. conceal the cistern from sight for aesthetic reasons.
Remarks
1. To cut costs I operated all heavy machinery myself.
2. A 325 gallon water-trailer lets me haul water from Valle, Parks or Flagstaff.
3. The home has a conventional pressure tank with plumbing to code.
4. The cistern is three 5000 gallon steel tanks interconnected with 2" flexi-pipe.
5. 6" seamless gutters conduct melting snow, hail and rain to the cistern.
6. 1/4" mesh filters the water before it enters the tanks.
7. 2" plugs are manually removed before the first rains to rinse off the roof surface.
8. Until I install filtration I'll bring drinking water from town in 5 gallon jugs.
9. The infloor heating has a devoted water heater and recycling system.
10. A drip irrigation system connects to an outdoor freeze-proofed faucet.