This photo shows our neighbor's home water collection system. Our house has one like it. The roof is pitched to shed leaves and debris. The gutters have shields to keep debris out. The gutters drain into the cistern for later use.
The first gush fills a small tank and the system throws that water out--that gush is supposed to wash the roof. When full, the small tank opens a valve and lets the rain flow into the cistern.
The new water goes in gently above the settling layer. When we open a faucet, the pumps draw water from near the surface. The pump supply floats just under the surface so it does not get water from the settling layer.
If there is more rain than the cistern can hold, the incoming water pushes out the settling layer.
It is winter--its raining again as I write this--and we know that we have a cistern full of fresh rainwater. In the summer the quality is less certain and sometimes the cistern runs dry and folks have to buy water.
I met a woman at the bus stop this morning and she said that running out of water in summer is a double cost. First, you have to pay for a truck to bring some; second, the water comes from wells--it is very hard and has a poor taste.
So we enjoy all this rain--it keeps our washing and drinking supply topped off and fresh.
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