# Rainwater Collection System



## Coastal_RedRaider (Dec 30, 2014)

My buddy just purchased a new tract of land and we put a blind and feeder up on in this weekend. We were thinking about putting a rainwater collection system that would run to a 200 gallon tank and gravity feed a trough somewhere below. We are perfectly capable of building one, just not sure about how big it needs to be to adequately fill a 200 gallon tank. I've looked at some calculations and i feel like it needs to be a lot bigger than what we were thinking. 

Does anybody have any experience building any of these and could help on some size ideas? Thanks for any responses.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

Coastal_RedRaider said:


> My buddy just purchased a new tract of land and we put a blind and feeder up on in this weekend. We were thinking about putting a rainwater collection system that would run to a 200 gallon tank and gravity feed a trough somewhere below. We are perfectly capable of building one, just not sure about how big it needs to be to adequately fill a 200 gallon tank. I've looked at some calculations and i feel like it needs to be a lot bigger than what we were thinking.
> 
> Does anybody have any experience building any of these and could help on some size ideas? Thanks for any responses.


Want is the typical amount of rainfall for the area?


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## Coastal_RedRaider (Dec 30, 2014)

fishingcacher said:


> Want is the typical amount of rainfall for the area?


The typical rainfall for the area (Rocksprings) is approximately 30.25 inches per year.


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## ptfisher (Jun 6, 2005)

A 10X10 surface will give you 125 gallons a month. We really need to know the consumption rate.


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## capt.dru (Oct 24, 2009)

ptfisher said:


> A 10X10 surface will give you 125 gallons a month. We really need to know the consumption rate.


Here is the formula to figure out how much rainwater you can potentially collect based on a 10Ã-10 surface and 30.25in of rainfall per year.

Sqft(roof)Ã-rainfall(in.)Ã-.623(conversion figure)=harvested water(gal.)

100sqft Ã- 30.25in. Ã- .623 = 1,884.58 gals per year

I have helped several people with the design and installation of these types of collection systems through work. There is a lot of good info here: http://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.edu

If you have any questions, let me know.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk


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## Coastal_RedRaider (Dec 30, 2014)

Thanks! This is some good info. 

This was an idea that we had thrown out there so that we didn't have to run poly-pipe to this new chunk adjacent to his existing property. In reality, with how much water he wants to have over there, and the amount of animal traffic through the property, he is probably just going to run poly-pipe to a trough.


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## Bob Keyes (Mar 16, 2011)

if you have a roof to collect off great, if not research trick tanks and guzzlers, they are used in NM and other desert areas for wildlife and livestock water.


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## CentexPW (Jun 22, 2004)

My home is 100% rainwater collection since 2000. 

For every 1" of rain per 1000 sqft of collection area you will collect 600 gal, in a perfect situation. 

I have a 3200 sqft building I collect water off of. If I get 1" of rain and nothing blows off or misses the gutters I can potentially collect 1920 gal. I estimate my collection at 1500 gal per 1" of rainfall just to be on the conservative side.

Remember it doesnt rain consistently year round. We get more in the winter than in the summer. So gauge your holding tank with that in mind. You want to be able to collect and hold all the water you can when it rains.


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