Collect rainwater for just $200

I always thought it was silly not to build houses nowadays, with a built-in water-harvesting systems. Even solar panels should be as standard as a refrigerator. Goes to show our priorities have been just a little bit skewed toward bottled convenient water and massive gas guzzling cars.

perhaps collecting rainwater will help lower the impact of floods in places where its a regular occurrence. all of our homes & concrete jungles cover up all of the earth that is supposed to soak up the water to nourish the plants that should be everywhere.
there are no one size fits all solutions to most modern problems, so there's no reason to dismiss collecting rainwater in areas where it could definitely be beneficial.

there's genius in the nuances.

This isnt green. This is like saying making your own clothes is green! Mass production of clean water is cheaper and greener than millions of people seperately cleaning their water.

I could shower in it, wash my dog, my car, my motorcycle, my home's siding.
This is awesome, how do we get some rain to happen?

my city already does this on a macro scale with artificial lakes from street runoff. these lakes are not sealed and allow seepage to help recharge the aquifer, but it doesn't work as there is a layer of clay in the way. the water is also used to irrigate the local parks.

The municipal water supply is an artificial lake/reservoir that fills from the Colorado river. however the channel into it is blocked and city officials say the river must cut itself a new channel.

The lake water is now so salty it must be mixed with 50% well water to be made drinkable.

the method described above, if widely used here, would relive stress on an already overtaxed, and badly maintained water supply.

besides this method only captures a limited amount of rain, and any excess is allowed to remain as normal runoff, and reduces pollution from primary treatment chemicals, and the resulting water is better for the plants.

this is the first step a "bigger better greener" life. there are many simple eco concepts that can help save money and the inviorment, now is the time to impliment them. there are rain harvesting systems that can be worked into a homes plumbing and drinking water system.

There's this guy w/ property near us in Nevada County, CA who has like 20 water barrels open spaced around his property w/ hoses attached for watering. He does it cause his well sometimes runs dry like this summer (major drought.) It's really cool and he's been doing it since the 70's.

I know collecting rainwater in Colorado is illegal, but I think that's because the state is so dry anyway and relies heavily on underground aquifers. Collecting rainwater just increases the problem. I think it'd be a good idea for people to use their gutter system to irrigate into gardens and such. No more wasteful sprinkler systems, and it's relatively cheap to just route it into a garden hose.

I still can't figure out why conservationists see this as a good idea. The water would normally end up in a river, lake, or reservoir. The cost of getting the water from these huge holding tanks to your house via the public water system is extremely minimal. It requires a very small amount of electricity, and is generally pretty cheap (pennies per gallon). So, somehow all these plastic bins (that might end up in landfills) that cost $200 are a better idea? It just doesn't add up to me.

It is another example of how companies are jumping on the 'green' bandwagon.

I'd like to see a real breakdown of the numbers and facts.

I don't know how much I would use the rain water for indoor use i.e. toilets and washing cloths but definitely for watering the lawn or washing the car. Rain water in the city is just too dirty for indoors.

I think its a great idea!!

Interesting you posted this today. I just happen to catch the tail end of the show "unwrapped" in the food network channel tonight and they featured this guy that bottles rainwater. check it out..

http://www.rainwatercollection.com

Recycling helps us all! Why havn't we been doing this?!

you know rainwater isn't 100% clean, we've polluted the air too much. Acid rain is mostly caused by human emissions of sulfur and nitrogen compounds which react in the atmosphere to produce acids (Wikipedia). We've screwed ourselves to the point of no return, and we just can't stop...
...Danm

i was wanting to do this to water my garden plus lawn and not get fined for using water.