Protecting Your Rainwater Tank With Painted Bed Sheets

Reader Contribution by Linda Holliday
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Rainwater collection dates back at least 3,000 years, and is still used in many remote areas worldwide. In South Australia, for example, more than 50 percent of homes rely on rainwater for some or all of their water needs. Throughout Australia, 16 percent of households use rainwater tanks, with 13 percent of households using tanks as their main drinking water source from 1994 to 2001. According to a 1994 survey, many Australians said they use rain tanks as a means of independently collecting a relatively pure product and using it without treatment, particularly without adding chemicals. The general public perception is that rainwater is safe to drink. In remote parts of Australia, using rainwater tanks to supply drinking water has been a long-standing and often essential practice. I recall rain barrels at a few neighboring farms as a youngster in the 1970s, but they were used mainly as a nutritious treat for houseplants. Rainwater collection on a large scale fell out of practice in the United States when rural electricity made windmills, hand pumps and rain barrels relics of the olden days.

Like many traditional country ways, however, rainwater collection is back in vogue. No longer a wooden barrel, tanks today are often plastic and can be purchased in an array of colors to match the house trim or blend inconspicuously into the rhododendrons. It has been so many years since I was connected to city waterlines, so I cannot even guess the cost. But I know they don’t just give water away. Rainwater collected from rooftops can significantly reduce household water costs and conserve this precious, dwindling resource. During spring and summer, 60 percent of the water Americans use is for watering grass and gardens. Among my all-time favorite birthday presents is the 425-gallon tank my husband bought for me at the start of our 2012 drought. Of course, we had no way of knowing we would not see water of any measure in the tank for months. But, oh, boy, when that tank filled for the first time, I was positively giddy. Our tank is food-grade polyethylene, made to fit in a pickup truck bed, and translucent for easy viewing of the water level. Darren caught it on sale at the local farm supply store, so there were no shipping costs. We easily managed the tank ourselves, setting it in place after creating a level spot under a downspout.

Since we like doing things on the cheap and keeping materials from the landfill, we made the tank mosquito-proof by fitting a circle of window screen fabric in the inlet hole. In the woods, I found an old aluminum flour canister that Darren drilled with holes to set on top of the screen, holding it firmly in place. It amazes me what people throw away – and where they chuck it.

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