Collecting water

[Heartysoup]

I'm looking for ingenious ways of collecting rain water.

I don't have a shed or greenhouse on the plot, so no drainpipes or gutters to tap into.

Any ideas ??

[Heartysoup]

[ceres]

One of my plot neighbours set up a sloping sheet of corrugated plastic to collect rainwater into a barrel.  The plastic is nailed to 4 posts, 2 taller ones at the back and 2 shorter at the front to create the slope.

[Mr Smith]

Would sinking a water butt into your lotty at a low point be a solution and channels towards it, better still like Ceres says put plastic sheeting round, ???

[Bjerreby]

None of that stuff will work without taking up too much ground space, and if you stretch a membrane out between posts, it will blow away, and also prevent rail falling on the ground.

The best you can do is dig a well. :)

[ceres]

None of that stuff will work without taking up too much ground space, and if you stretch a membrane out between posts, it will blow away, and also prevent rail falling on the ground.

Perhaps I didn't explain it very well, but it does actually work.  It doesn't take up any ground space as it's raised on posts.  It's clear corrugated rigid plastic nailed to the posts so it has planting below it and it doesn't blow away.  Some people plant their tomatoes under just such an arrangement to keep the blight off, so double benefit.

Digging a well?  That's a helpful suggestion for an allotment site.

[Mr Smith]

Oh yes it doe's the chap on the next lotty to me he loves plastic sheeting over his allotment and I get all the run off, ;)

[tonybloke]

we got several wells on a couple of our sites!  the water table is very high / the site is very near to sea-level.

[wolfie]

i used to have one on the colbham site

[Bjerreby]

None of that stuff will work without taking up too much ground space, and if you stretch a membrane out between posts, it will blow away, and also prevent rail falling on the ground.

Perhaps I didn't explain it very well, but it does actually work.  It doesn't take up any ground space as it's raised on posts.  It's clear corrugated rigid plastic nailed to the posts so it has planting below it and it doesn't blow away.  Some people plant their tomatoes under just such an arrangement to keep the blight off, so double benefit.

Digging a well?  That's a helpful suggestion for an allotment site.

Thanks Ceres.

I collect water from the roof of my house. I use half of it, about 90 m2, (the gutters are inclined from the middle to the drain pipes at each end), and I have water butts totalling 1.5 m3.

These soon fill up in the autumn (when I don't need to water), but in spring, I soon run dry and have to resort to the tap.

Now, my veg beds are about the size of a normal allotment. Our rainfall here in Denmark is about the same as the east of England. I can see that every drop helps, but quite honestly, you cannot save a significant amount of water from a shed roof or a lean-to.

I was only joking about a well, but frankly speaking, I'd love one in my garden. It only needs to be about 5 metres deep, and I could forget all about water butts.  :)

[saddad]

We have found 15 wells on our site so far... they were capped when water was put in, and now 15 years later the plots have changed hands and the caps are rotting....  :o

We have two spring lines on site... but they only run in very wet weather... the deepest well we have found was 15'+  ::)

[tonybloke]

most of the well on our sites in cobholm are only 6 - 10 ft deep, and lined with a couple of 45 gal drums ( with ends removed) ;)

[zigzig]

I am always surprised at just how much water I get in anything 'left out' whenever it rains. Buckets and bowls can be moved around to where ever there is a space.

We do have water on site so collecting water is not as vital as it is for some.

If you drive to the site then I suggest that every time you go, whether you need it or not you take as many bottles of tap water you can with you and store water in a butt.

[ceres]

but quite honestly, you cannot save a significant amount of water from a shed roof or a lean-to.

I have 3 (full) butts on my small 6' x 4' shed, 2 normal size and one very large one.  The amount of water I collect IS significant.  Why are you trying to discourage someone from harvesting water?

[zigzig]

Ceres, The gentleman has explained that he lives in Denmark where the rainfall is the same as the 'East of England'. There are some parts of that area where the quantity of rainfall is so slight it actually qualifies as a desert.

I believe that is his point. If there is no rain, it can not be collected.

Most of us in the UK are used to getting a lot of rain, often more than we need. Not every one gets exactly the same.

[ceres]

I live in the 'east of England' (London to be exact) and we are probably one of the driest areas of the UK.  I can still collect 'significant' amounts of water.

[elvis2003]

surely even half a butt of water a year saved is significant?

[zigzig]

Ceres, London comes under the South East.
The East in East Anglia.

[ceres]

Heartysoup, you asked for ingenious ways of collecting rainwater.  I hope you're able to find something useful through all the noise here.  Please PM me if you want any more info.  Good luck - collecting rainwater is something we should all be doing!

[Flighty]

Ceres I agree!

Water is a vital resource which we should all be endeavouring to use less of and save more.

[BarriedaleNick]

By my reckoning even a 1m² panel on a plot could collect 750 litres of water a year on average in London (figures are for Gatwick) and that doesnt seem insignificant.  Of course a lot of rain falls in the winter and unless you have a large tank you wont capture it all..
I have seen a tank covered by a little roof which feeds directly into the tank below.  Very little space taken up..