Rainwater Projects for Off-Grid Homes

Since moving to our property, our main source of all drinking, washing, animal, garden, and orchard water has been rainfall. We have no well, not because we wouldn’t like one, but rather because rainwater makes good economic sense in our dry region. Once the infrastructure of roofline, piping, and tanks are bought and paid for, it’s as simple as waiting — and often praying — for rain.

Catching, Calculating, and Filtering Rainwater

Water infrastructure is critically important. For that reason, we decided to hire out the work of putting up a roofline, a catchwater tank, and gutters before we even moved to our land. We drove south from Michigan to Texas during one of the driest summers in history, but just a few days before we arrived, 5 inches rained down on the parched earth, and our tank was filled and ready for us when we arrived.

To catch rainwater, you need three things in place: a roofline, a gutter with piping, and a holding tank.

We currently use three black tanks totaling 5,500 gallons of holding capacity. Those tanks, along with our ponds, provide all the water we