Despite being surrounded by almost 70% of water, the earth's land masses are being subject to further and longer droughts due to increases in global warming. Already in 2007 we have seen longer dry periods, and this in turn puts pressure of agriculture and on those who rely on rural wells for their drinking water. While we cannot do without drinking water, having a store of 'secondary' water available for these dry periods will help alleviate the problems when shortages occur. This secondary water can be used to flush toilets, wash cars, water plants and even fill swimming pools in the summer time, so it won't go to waste.

Water butts are an ideal way to conserve rain water. You can go for a number of solutions, such as underground water storage, to large oil-tank sized above ground units, down to the common tank that is tapped into the drainpipe. An underground solution would usually only be required if your well supply was subject to regular dry outs, and requires considerable excavation and landscaping to make it worthwhile. So lets look instead at the more common installation, using standard drainpipe linked water butts around the property to avail of all that water landing of the roof!

Drain Pipe Filters/Diverter:

You can obtain various types of filters and diverters, some of the models are shown below. Diverters only divert the water from the drainpipe, but filters have a mechanism to trap sludge, leaves and other debris and flush those down the drainpipe as usual, with the cleaner filtered water being diverted to the storage tank. Depending on your proximity to trees, the type of roof and rain pattern, you can decide initially if you require a rain filter or just a diverter.

Water Butt Types:

I obtained 2 water butts from those friendly guys at ecostore.ie. The models I chose were 190 litres with a base, tap, rain diverter and child-safe lids. Remember if not buying the base then you will need to prop it up on some bricks or level platform otherwise you wont be able to draw water from the tap. Before just cutting into any old drainpipe, check around your property for the longest gutter run, as these will offer the quickest refill times for the water butt. Then, place the butt into position and check that it can sit level before proceeding. If the butt is not level, most rain diverting systems will not work correctly as they will either over or under fill the water butt. So getting it level is the key.

Once it is level, you may have to drill 2 holes for the tap and the inlet if not already predrilled. Use a standard wood drill bit to cut out holes between 15 and 25mm, as these drill bits tend to cut holes cleanly in moulded plastic. Then go ahead and cut the plastic drainpipe and install the diverter. Most butts come with instructions which require a section of drainpipe to be removed where the diverter will sit. Also, diverters usually handle circular and square down pipes, but do check the size of your drain pipe before ordering, in case it is an unusual diameter. 

Once installed, make sure the tap is securely fitted and wait for the rain. If the water butt over fills then it usually means than the butt is positioned too low in relation to the diverter pipe, and it will need to be raised a little. If it under fills then the opposite is true and you need to somehow lower the butt. That is not as easy, especially if you are using the pre-made base, so my advice is to always make the cut in the drainpipe high enough; that way you can raise it until it sits at the correct height.

Connecting Water Butts Together:

If you find that the volume of rain will fill a water butt quickly, then consider connecting 2 butts together. All you do here is to use another diverter hose and barrel connector to join the two, but remember that the divert hole from the first butt to the second should be made slightly lower than the divert coming into the first butt from the drainpipe. Otherwise, the first butt could fill up and stop filling before the water begins to divert to the second butt. 

I plan to add some further containers at both the garage and greenhouse, so that the rainwater is readily available without having to transport it from elsewhere.  And, should we have any problems with our well or pump, at least we have a backup store of water available for washing and flushing toilets.