Portland Peak Oil presents: Rainwater Catchment and Harvesting with Joe

Location

Hosted by:
Mike

Body:

Joe Leitch of the Portland Permaculture Institute will be speaking about rainwater catchment systems. Given Portland has several months of little or no rain during the hottest months of the year, being able to collect some of your own rainwater becomes very important. In addition, you don't need water from Bull Run to water plants in your yard.

Here are a few topics that will be specifically covered:

- How to calculate rainwater storage capacity for your house
- Ways to store and conserve water
- How to select a cistern $$
- How to build a sand filter
- How to build a roof washing system

More generally speaking rainwater catchment systems are low-cost, technologically simple water supply systems for use in rural and urban areas. The system itself usually consists of a catchment surface, delivery system and storage tank. In the case of a simple roof catchment system, the roof itself is the catchment surface, the gutters and drainpipe the delivery system, and barrels collect and store the runoff. Ground catchment systems consist of a sloped cement or treated earth area for harvesting rainwater, a stone and sand filter at the entrance to the drainpipe, and an underground storage tank.

opening & closing St. Francis:
Jonathan and Carla