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Rainwater catchment via IBC totes

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  • Rainwater catchment via IBC totes


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    Often you hear folks wanting to store water and have a water filter, but usually it doesn't go much past that. Suffice to say ways to resupply should always be considered.

    If you have a well, you should have multiple options as to how to power that well outside of standard commercial power. More ideal would be multiple well options- a solar submersible, a hand pumped well, etc. Contrary to popular belief there are hand pumps for deep wells also. We have one, it's considerably larger than the standard shallow well "pitcher pump" that people are used to seeing. It's also a bit of a workout to pump any significant amount of water from. Many have options to attach to a windmill type set up- I believe this entails a connection from the pump handle to a rod that moves with the windmill. Ours isn't set up that way as wind isn't a good option in our area, but I've heard of people doing that.

    For many, the easiest way to achieve this will be rain catchment. While I don't think we should fully rely on "just" rain catchment, it should be part of your overall water plan. Many folks will already have gutters on their house, even if they are just connected to downspouts that pour the water on to the ground. It's an easy thing to divert the rainwater to catchment tanks like the IBC tote in the pic above.

    "But I have a shingle roof"- yes, some of our catchment comes from a shingled roof, it's not the end of the world. Ideally your rain water will be used for irrigation of crops, animal water needs, flushing toilets, etc. However if you need to, a good water filter like a Katadyn TRK drip filter can be used to filter the water for drinking.

    During Helene we used quite a bit of rainwater and filtered it through our drip filters- no one died in the process LOL.

    I have in the past used primarily new poly tanks for water storage and we will stay with that for drinking water storage. However for irrigation/animal needs you can save a boatload of money going with the IBC totes instead.

    Try to find a good source for these and definitely buy sight unseen. They do ship chemicals as well as food products in these so be sure you know what was stored/shipped in these. I will usually give all water tanks/barrels, etc. no matter if they were new or not a couple of rinses of water and usually once rinse with bleach in the water also.

    The fittings for the IBC totes are fairly stupid IMO. The fittings you would need for a standard poly water tank you can get at Lowes in a few minutes. The adapters for the IBC totes a little different and step 1 is identifying the type of outlet you have- evidently there are multiple options. Here is a link to an article I found helpful is figuring out which ours came with-

    Learn how to identify your IBC tote thread type with our simple measuring guide. Download the PDF or shop fittings and adapters at JME Ellsworth.


    Amazon has various types of the adapters that go to these that allow you to then connect to standard PVC. Having bought several that didn't work, highly suggest you study the pics in the link above, there are slight differences in each that can mess you up when ordering the adapter.

    To describe what you see/don't see in the pic and set up on the outbuilding pictured- The gutter itself has a mesh gross filter for pine needles, etc. in the gutter outlet. It goes from there to a "leaf eater" type device-

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y3TZY4Y?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_ti tle_3

    which is the last thing you don't see in the pic- opsec being opsec and all...

    Down the 3 inch PVC to the sanitary Tee with the cleanout at the bottom. This acts as another debris catcher and every so often the threaded cleanout screw has to be unscrewed to allow debris to leave the system.

    From there it goes to the tank, hitting one final "filter" type device at the tank itself



    Probably overkill with everything else but worth it. A cover for the tote is not shown but will come in handy as white colored water tanks will suffer a lot of nasty growth in them down here IME.

    Most "preppers" will have a water filter, many will already have gutters on their houses. The option of rain catchment via an IBC tote $100. (versus about $800. for a similar sized new poly tank) plus the fittings and adapters necessary offers the ability to harvest rain water and adds another option for resupply of water storage.
    www.homesteadingandsurvival.com

    www.survivalreportpodcast.com

    "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed..."
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