I am getting land in an area that is pretty dry and requires drilling more than 700 feet to get well water.

I am considering getting a metal barn with a rain catchment system that will move the water off the tin roof into large plastic containers. i am planning on using this water for all of my water needs except drinking, this will include washing clothes, watering a few trees, washing the car and other things.

I'm in central Texas.

Has anyone out there done water catchment? What advice do you have?

Do you know of a company that makes good barns with tin roofs?

-- Rick7 (rick7@postmark.net), July 12, 2001

Answers

I have family members that use a 10,000 gallon underground masonary tank in lower Virginia. Underground for the reasons of: no visual eyesore, no misquito eggs, less evaporation, no sunlight to promote algey growth, and for the heat sink for his geothermal/air conditioning system.

With a new system let the first few rains go so that you will not get manufacturing oils in your water from the new metal roof. Does anybody know if there could be a heavy metals problem with this system?

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), July 12, 2001.

A good questionabout the heavy metals problem.

I have been told the roofs are made of tin. I wonder if tin leaches out enough to cause a problem long-term.

-- Rick7 (Rick7@postmark.net), July 12, 2001.

Mitch,

I have to ask, what is a geothermal/air conditioning system?

-- Rick7 (Rick7@postmark.net), July 12, 2001.

Rick, you are in luck. Texas has one of the most comprehensive rainwater harvesting programs in the country. It also has a number of suppliers for harvesting equipment, consultation, etc. Go to this link www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/RainHarv.pdf it is the Texas Guide to Rainwater Harvesting. It is in PDF format so you will need to also download Adobe Acrobat. Just go to the site and it will walk you through. This is a comprehensive document. Hope it helps answer your questions.

-- Auntie Annie (sahamett@msn.com), July 12, 2001.

Rick7 of nine; the system uses long buried plastic water lines to exchange heat into or out of the earth for heating or air conditioning depending on the needs. The earth's temp is stable underground and you can draw heat or cooling from it, kinda like a heat pump that uses a well; in stead of a compressor that uses electricity to run a compressor and uses freon. The energy needed is 1/10 or so of a standard unit of air conditioning we are familiar with, its late, I'm buzzed, I'll review tomorrow.

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), July 12, 2001.

Wow!

Thanks for the post on Texas! My hubby and I were talking about our building wants and needs and conserving as much as possible on water and electricity, etc.

I had found in Northern Tools catalog 1,500 gallon tanks suitable for drinking water. These are Ag tanks for $399.00, but we are still going to check out other alternatives.

-- Stephanie Nosacek (pospossum@earthlink.net), July 13, 2001.