In this video, Geoff shows exactly how to do that. From roof selection and gutters to first-flush diverters, tank sizing, header tanks, pressure, and final filtration, this is a practical tour of how clean drinking water is caught, cleaned, stored, and used.
Key Takeaways:
Not all roofs are equal — zincalume, ceramic tile, and concrete roofs are ideal for drinking water catchment. Gutters should fall gently toward downpipes to move water efficiently. A simple first-flush system removes organic pollutants before water enters the tank. First-flush systems are easy to maintain and only need occasional cleaning. Water can travel down and back up into a tank as long as the inlet is lower than the gutter. Inspection points make it easy to flush out residue and maintain water quality. Mesh and sieves at tank inlets prevent leaves, mosquitoes, and wildlife from entering. Tank size should match use — from small cabins to large family homes and irrigation systems. Header tanks provide gravity-fed pressure without pumps. Household water pressure requires around 15 meters (50 feet) of head height. Weighted float indicators give a simple visual cue for when tanks need refilling. Final-use ceramic filters polish water to an extremely fine level. Properly harvested rainwater is clean, safe and deeply satisfying to drink.
Hi, Geoff Lawton here.
I'm going to show you how we harvest healthy rainwater,
how we catch it, how we clean it, and how you store it.
This is a Zincaloom Colourbond roof,
which is great for catching drinking water.
So is a ceramic tile roof and a concrete roof.
Here is a classic roof gutter.
It's just falling very slightly to that end,
where the downpipes pick up the water,
take it through the first flush system,
and then onto the drinking water tank.
This is a simple first flush system.
It's an off-the-shelf item in Australia.
So here, the water comes off the roof
and comes into this compartment first,
and then slowly dribbles out of this little pipe.
And there's a little bit of filter,
and you can see there's a bit of muck in here.
It's called a little bit of organic pollutant.
Now there's a ball in here.
That's just a loose ball.
The water's coming in faster
than it can dribble out of this little pipe.
The ball rises and blocks that junction,
and all remaining water from that point
goes through to the tank.
When the rain stops, this empties,
and we catch a little bit of organic pollutants, not much.
Simple system, works fine.
You just open it up every now and again and clean it.
Just going to wash all the dirt out of there.
That tiny little hole there
is what lets the water dribble out,
so it doesn't go out very quickly.
So when we put it back together,
that fits in there, that fits on there.
The ball goes up inside,
and this goes up behind it and screws up.
You don't have to have the water
fall in straight to the tank.
It can go down and back up,
as long as the input is higher than entrance to the tank.
So as long as your gutter is higher
than the top of the tank,
with rain, it will go up and in.
It's very useful to have a junction like this
at a low point, where you can have this inspection cap
that you can take off and clear that water,
and if there's any residue in there,
you get it clear all in one big flush.
At the input of each tank,
there's a sieve and a mesh that stops leaves,
mosquitoes, and any wildlife getting into the tank.
This is a 24,000-gallon concrete tank.
It would be a tank that you might use
on a very large family house,
or maybe two houses joined together,
or it might be used as a tank for irrigation to crops
if you can't use a dam or build a dam.
This is a 10,000-gallon concrete tank.
It's the ideal size for a family home.
It could be a very large header tank
for a small community,
or it could be an irrigation header tank for crops.
This is a 2,000-gallon concrete tank.
Now, that's a bit small
for the average family's use and storage,
but it would be okay for a weekender or a holiday cabin,
or maybe for just one person living by themselves carefully.
Now, it could be a nice, large header tank.
That means you've got head pressure
by this tank being up high above the end use.
If you want head pressure,
that's at least something like town water pressure.
You want 15 meters or 50 feet.
You can go a lot higher.
You can go right up to 60 meters,
but after that, you need to stage it downhill
because most fittings won't hold that pressure.
Like most header tanks, uphill at a distance,
you want to be able to see if you need to pump water.
Now, this is a weighted float system.
There's a little pulley and a weight going down to a float,
and that tells me that we need to pump water
because when this one's up,
that one on the inside is down.
It's just a float that's weighted.
So when the water goes down,
the float and weight go down on the inside.
When the water comes up on the inside,
the float rises and the indicator goes down.
And as the old sign says here,
time to pump water.
This is a 500-gallon concrete tank,
and that's just about an ideal size
for the average family home's header tank.
So if you want to filter the water,
its final end use point,
these canisters here contain simple ceramic sheath filters,
and they filter the water of any final particulates
to a very, very fine degree.
So at this point, there's no pollutants in the water at all.
There we go.
Beautiful, clean rainwater.
Best water in the world.
