How Rainwater Harvesting Works
Normally when it rains the rainwater pours off your roof, down through your gutters and runs off into your yard or street. With rainwater harvesting your rainwater is collected in a tank or cistern. All of our plastic tanks, steel culvert cisterns and underground tanks have the same principal of collecting water but do so in slightly different ways. Read below to learn more about how each of our systems works.
With our Bushman Plastic tanks water runs through your rain gutter system and is directed into the top of the tank. Before the water enters into the tanks it passes through a screen that filters out any leaves or other debris. Once the tank is full, excess water flows out of the overflow pipe on the side of the tank. This pipe is also protect by a screen to prevent mosquitoes or debris from entering your stored water. To utilize the water that is in the tank you simply connect a garden hose to the output hose bib just as you would to an outside faucet.
To install underground tanks we dig a hole and place the tank below ground level. Water flows through an input pipe and into the top of the underground tank. Before the water enters into the tanks it passes through a screen that filters out any leaves or other debris. The water rises until it reaches the top of the overflow pipe, located in the middle of the tank. Once the underground tank is full, the extra water flows into the overflow pipe and out to a designated area on your property. All underground tanks utilize a submersible pump to pump water out of the tank.
As the diagram below shows, with steel culvert cisterns the rainwater runs off your roof, down through your rain gutter system, through an input pipe and into the bottom of the cistern. As with the plastic tanks, all water passes through a screen to filter out debris before entering the tank. The water rises until it reaches the top of the overflow pipe, located in the middle of the cistern. Once the tank is full, the extra water flows into the overflow pipe and out to a designated area on your property.
To clean the tank you simply open the clean out valve and drain the tank. Once the tank is drained you can use a hose to spray out the inside of the tank and wash out any debris or sediment that has collected. Close the valve and the cistern is ready to collect more water.
To utilize the water that is in the tank you simply connect a garden hose to the output hose bib just as you would to an outside faucet.
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