2023 Rain Thread

[Guest]

What do yall do with the rainwater you collect? I'd think for plants/trees you wouldn't need too much. And if you're watering lawn... how do you physically get the water from the tank to the grass?

[utee94 15823]

16 minutes ago, texasdago said:

Doesn't the Fredericksburg area go into the Highland Lakes watershed?  I think they got pounded last night.

Not just the Highland lakes, but it's directly in the Lake Travis basin, which is really good for those of us in the Austin area.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they got a ton of widespread rain all over the western part of the basin.  But one gauge north of Fredericksburg reads 2.63" which is something, anyway.

Edited April 21, 2023 by utee94

[Wally Pryor 5261]

Periodic PSA on the great resource that is Hydromet.

https://hydromet.lcra.org/

[gsoda3 3261]

1 hour ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

I have a valley on the backside of the house without a gutter. I put a concrete block there to keep the runoff from digging a hole. Now I've taken to putting a 5-gallon bucket there to catch rainwater to use on plants that are under eves, etc. Ran out in the middle of it and that bucket was completely full within minutes and the runoff was coming so hard it was hitting a foot further out from the block and bucket. Just dumping rain like I've never seen. 

I also need a new roof. So much granules from the shingles. Like piles of it.

i have two 500 gallon barrels daisy chained.  they were empty before the rain started last night.  filled up completely within 5 minutes.  

[texasdago 7573]

9 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Not just the Highland lakes, but it's directly in the Lake Travis basin, which is really good for those of us in the Austin area.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they got a ton of widespread rain all over the western part of the basin.  But one gauge north of Fredericksburg reads 2.63" which is something, anyway.

What I saw last night watching the radar is there was a horizontal line of storms right above Fredericksburg that stayed stationary for a while... multiple gauges around 2" so hopefully that made a teeny dent last night.  We'll see.  

[utee94 15823]

1 minute ago, texasdago said:

What I saw last night watching the radar is there was a horizontal line of storms right above Fredericksburg that stayed stationary for a while... multiple gauges around 2" so hopefully that made a teeny dent last night.  We'll see.  

You can look at the streamflows on hydromet to see if any of it is moving downstream.  Anything in the hundreds of CFS is pretty minimal, won't make a difference in the lake, unfortunately.  I'm sure that the ground was pretty dry and absorbed much of the rain, so there just isn't enough runoff to make it downstream.

Now, if we were to get ANOTHER rain event like that within the next few days, there'd be a lot more runoff.  THAT is how we get the lake levels rising.  We're looking for those streamflows to get into the multi-thousands of CFS, all over the basin, to be effective.

On the map below, the aqua blue color represents the Lake Travis basin.

 

 

 

 

[Born to Run 6569]

This morning - Canada to the Gulf of Mexico - not one single break in the storms last night except Spicewood Texas. 

Behold, The Spicewood Split.

[Post Oak 20213]

1 hour ago, Spaulding Smails said:

0.35" last night near Henly.  First round went well north of us, but got a strong little cell came through around 10:15 last night.  

For the record, I'm so stoked about my new rainwater collection system.  56,000 gallons.  Between the house, garage and guest house, I get about 10,000 gallons for every inch of rain now.  So, that little cell last night provided us with about 3,500 gallons.  

 

43 minutes ago, troph said:

it's pretty awesome, we have 65,000 gallons and 4200 sq of collection so 1 inch is about 2,620 gallons for us.  our home use is pretty tight absent pool use (irrigation is gray water or septic field so it doesn't even really count).  We have about 12,000 gallons at the moment (started collecting only recently) so we need to get it up this spring after that we should be fine.

the most interesting part is how it drives conservation because the renewability of the resource is so directly tied to our collection and use.  if everyone was closer to the resource I believe conservation efforts would be much, much more successful.

 

Please post pics or your set up.  This is something my wife and I are talking about doing on our current house and most definitely on our next one.  

Thanks

[troph 24798]

16 minutes ago, utee94 said:

You can look at the streamflows on hydromet to see if any of it is moving downstream.  Anything in the hundreds of CFS is pretty minimal, won't make a difference in the lake, unfortunately.  I'm sure that the ground was pretty dry and absorbed much of the rain, so there just isn't enough runoff to make it downstream.

Now, if we were to get ANOTHER rain event like that within the next few days, there'd be a lot more runoff.  THAT is how we get the lake levels rising.  We're looking for those streamflows to get into the multi-thousands of CFS, all over the basin, to be effective.

On the map below, the aqua blue color represents the Lake Travis basin.

 

 

 

 

We had no rain out there the last couple of events and last night was mixed. We need a multi-inch event then 2-3 more back to back to back for any rise to occur, or a massive flood with death and destruction. 

[troph 24798]

14 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

 

 

Please post pics or your set up.  This is something my wife and I are talking about doing on our current house and most definitely on our next one.  

Thanks

Ours is stupid. She’s trying to build a luxury home with all green features made seamless and invisible. She thinks there’s a market for it - I tend to agree. We have half the basement floor dedicated to rain water collection and it sits under the garage and the kitchen and adjacent to the kids rooms and downstairs den. The ceiling is steel beams with reinforced concrete on top. It’s a concrete room with no doors only a hatch in its ceiling. It’s sealed with a cistern “paint” that binds on the concrete to create a water proof seal.  We have one gutter on the shed style roof and three drains in the trough of the butterfly roof. All water drains through a purpose built system to remove debris first then it drains into the cistern. All piping is through the interior walls except one downspout. There is only one visible down spout on the entire exterior of the house and it’s on the mechanical side with the ACs and electrical service. The other two debris filters are inside the garage.  The system is essentially invisible. Water pours in and collects then we pump it out into a simple pressure tank and then through 2 micron filters and a UV light filter.  The end product is a luxury I had no idea about - clothes, hair, skin, dishes spot free, shower glass spot free, taste, you name it rain water is total luxury. 
 

A basic system should be relatively inexpensive. Plastic tanks, gutters into them, and then gravity fed or pumped to the pressure tank and filtration is not that big of a deal. I think our pressure tank and filter system was a few grand. I’d imaging a complete system is under $10k for 20,000 gallons or more of storage. 

[troph 24798]

48 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

What do yall do with the rainwater you collect? I'd think for plants/trees you wouldn't need too much. And if you're watering lawn... how do you physically get the water from the tank to the grass?

We have rainwater for everything - instead of a well or “city” water. 

[jimmyjazz 45953]

19 minutes ago, troph said:

I’d imaging a complete system is under $10k for 20,000 gallons or more of storage. 

I've never really understood the math.  Say water is worth $0.003 per gallon . . . then a full 20,000 gallon tank holds $60 of water.  It would take over 150 refills to recoup the investment.  Am I off?

[Clackles 276]

You are if you don’t consider the upfront infrastructure costs that may be need to source city/well water to certain locations.

[troph 24798]

38 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I've never really understood the math.  Say water is worth $0.003 per gallon . . . then a full 20,000 gallon tank holds $60 of water.  It would take over 150 refills to recoup the investment.  Am I off?

 

11 minutes ago, Clackles said:

You are if you don’t consider the upfront infrastructure costs that may be need to source city/well water to certain locations.

Economics where water utilities are available make zero sense. Where infrastructure does not exist, rain water collection if done right is reliable and is far superior to well water with similar costs unless you act stupid like we did. For us we have a utility but it’s for profit and I have a major problem buying water from a company trying to make a profit off said water. There is some dissonance there I readily admit when you consider water for sale at the store or delivery service, I just found my primary source coming from a for profit company just too much. On top of that though I think there are powerful conservation incentives when you look at human behavior that make rain water collection an attractive method and then I don’t think you can find a more luxurious source for you water. It’s a subtle improvement but once you experience it, the differences become profound. 
 

In the city I think an irrigation system makes good sense. That’s close to zero cost with small tanks near downspouts and maybe a small pump and a hook up to your sprinkler system. 

Edited April 21, 2023 by troph

[jimmyjazz 45953]

49 minutes ago, troph said:

Economics where water utilities are available make zero sense. Where infrastructure does not exist, rain water collection if done right is reliable and is far superior to well water with similar costs unless you act stupid like we did. For us we have a utility but it’s for profit and I have a major problem buying water from a company trying to make a profit off said water. There is some dissonance there I readily admit when you consider water for sale at the store or delivery service, I just found my primary source coming from a for profit company just too much. On top of that though I think there are powerful conservation incentives when you look at human behavior that make rain water collection an attractive method and then I don’t think you can find a more luxurious source for you water. It’s a subtle improvement but once you experience it, the differences become profound. 
 

In the city I think an irrigation system makes good sense. That’s close to zero cost with small tanks near downspouts and maybe a small pump and a hook up to your sprinkler system. 

OK, I agree with all of that.  Grey water applications are a lot more cost effective than deriving all used water from the sky.  Thanks.

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

3 hours ago, troph said:

it's pretty awesome, we have 65,000 gallons and 4200 sq of collection so 1 inch is about 2,620 gallons for us.  our home use is pretty tight absent pool use (irrigation is gray water or septic field so it doesn't even really count).  We have about 12,000 gallons at the moment (started collecting only recently) so we need to get it up this spring after that we should be fine.

the most interesting part is how it drives conservation because the renewability of the resource is so directly tied to our collection and use.  if everyone was closer to the resource I believe conservation efforts would be much, much more successful.

This last section is so incredibly true.  Love your statement about being closer to the resource.  My dynamic has shifted from wanting to have a badass lawn with tons of irrigation to behaving rationally and smart about where things are expended.  

[Trey3216 15346]

13 minutes ago, Spaulding Smails said:

This last section is so incredibly true.  Love your statement about being closer to the resource.  My dynamic has shifted from wanting to have a badass lawn with tons of irrigation to behaving rationally and smart about where things are expended.  

I want to have a badass lawn as well, but use as little water and fertilizer as I possibly can to make it happen.   

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

3 hours ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

What do yall do with the rainwater you collect? I'd think for plants/trees you wouldn't need too much. And if you're watering lawn... how do you physically get the water from the tank to the grass?

Ours is for drinking water.  We ended up drilling a well also, but only use that for irrigation and hose bibs.  I ran a separate loop at the house / garage for the hose bibs so they run independent and don't draw off the rainwater.  I also plumbed my rainwater tank to the well so I can fill it in the event we go through an extraordinary drought, though after seeing the volume I'm collecting I feel pretty good about avoiding that scenario.

My system is nowhere near as elaborate as @troph's setup.  The gray water concept is brilliant.  And for the record, I absolutely think there's a market for what you've built.  I'm banking on the fact that water independence will be a huge selling point in a decade or so.

 

2 hours ago, Post Oak said:

Please post pics or your set up.  This is something my wife and I are talking about doing on our current house and most definitely on our next one.  

Thanks

I'll post some pics early next week.  The collection system is pretty simple.  Just replaced traditional downspouts with schedule 40 PVC that we painted a galvanized color to match the roof.  You realistically only need PVC at a grade below the top of the tank where the water column will max out, but we opted for all PVC so the aesthetic was consistent.  The style of our house is pretty traditional, so there was no need to hide the downspouts.  Just paint them.  I'm guessing @troph's setup is more modern.

I have about 8,500 SF of roof between the three structures that ties in to a 6" PVC main line before dumping into the water tank.  Ours is a round galvanized tank with a liner.  We used AgriTek out of Round Mountain.  Very knowledgable and easy to work with.  They installed the tank, and I had my plumber do the piping and equipment.  The pictures I post next week will show the pump and filtration system.  We have two pumps (for redundancy) then a sediment filtration system and a UV filtration system all mounted inside a small pump house adjacent to the tank.  

http://www.agritekwaterworks.com/

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I've never really understood the math.  Say water is worth $0.003 per gallon . . . then a full 20,000 gallon tank holds $60 of water.  It would take over 150 refills to recoup the investment.  Am I off?

Though I did a well also, that's where the savings is.  Plus, the water is 100X better than what I can pump out of the ground.  People have commented about "how good" our tapwater tastes.  I'm about $50K all-in for my 56,000 gallon system including the tank, equipment and all the piping.  But, I had over 1200 LF of PVC installed based on how far everything ran, and I bought the PVC at the absolute peak of the supply chain crisis, so that number inflates the material cost significantly plus the labor to run (and bury) all those lines to the tank.  The tank itself was $25K installed and the equipment (pumps and filtration) were about $10K.

[Homercles 10205]

4 hours ago, troph said:

Rain water collection is really powerful actually, it accumulates so quickly.  Just the light rain we received for 20 mins (0.1 inches) netted us about 260 gallons.

Sell it to dumbasses as Raw Water

[Guest]

So y'all have pumps on your rainwater harvesting tanks? I know nothing about these systems except there are large tanks that collect off the roof.

What then?

[Homercles 10205]

Then you just install some simple piping

[Guest]

Another 1-2" area wide over the next week:

[gurt 748]

fixed it for ya

[4th&Five 41552]

44 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

So y'all have pumps on your rainwater harvesting tanks? I know nothing about these systems except there are large tanks that collect off the roof.

What then?

My office in Lakeway is all rain water. Yes, there's a pump and a filter.  I think it was around $500 when we replaced it last year.

[troph 24798]

Our “system” isn’t elaborate as much as it is simply hidden. The concrete cistern is just ridiculous I will admit that. But we also have a small lot and because septic takes up so much space and because the rules for septic prohibit drinking water sources buried we had no choice but to do it the way we did.  
 

the system itself is super easy. Its roof —> gutter —> downspout —> pre-filter large debris —> holding tank —> pump —> pressure tank —> water filtration —> run to the faucets. 
 

that’s it. It’s only expensive when it’s your primary source because you need more pipes and you need a large as fuck tank. 

[Post Oak 20213]

49 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

So y'all have pumps on your rainwater harvesting tanks? I know nothing about these systems except there are large tanks that collect off the roof.

What then?

 

[Post Oak 20213]

Some of the grey water systems I've seen online seem to be aesthetically too DIY and too rough for my liking.  I'd love to see one that fit seamlessly in with other plumbing

 

[royiv 9317]

9 minutes ago, troph said:

Our “system” isn’t elaborate as much as it is simply hidden. The concrete cistern is just ridiculous I will admit that. But we also have a small lot and because septic takes up so much space and because the rules for septic prohibit drinking water sources buried we had no choice but to do it the way we did.  
 

the system itself is super easy. Its roof —> gutter —> downspout —> pre-filter large debris —> holding tank —> pump —> pressure tank —> water filtration —> run to the faucets. 
 

that’s it. It’s only expensive when it’s your primary source because you need more pipes and you need a large as fuck tank. 

This is so incredibly bad ass. I loved following the thread when y'all were building. Do you have a utility hook-up as a back-up during a long drought or to get started? How do you monitor how full the tank is?

[HiggyBaby 2529]

Took this pic coming in to ABIA from the west last night. Glad someone else was driving.

[troph 24798]

2 hours ago, royiv said:

This is so incredibly bad ass. I loved following the thread when y'all were building. Do you have a utility hook-up as a back-up during a long drought or to get started? How do you monitor how full the tank is?

We have no back up for water. We can hook up. We can also have water delivered. If we can fill this sucker up I think we are good for the long haul. Our use outside of the pool is pretty solidly under control, low flow everything. We do use the bath tub but it’s our primary source for gray water. I bet we are under 4000 gallons per month, possibly closer to 3000. So 65,000 gallons is more than enough for a year we think and 25 inches a year and we have that 65,000 gallons of collected water. 

we are implementing a bunch of home automation and currently we are still on lights (including motion detectors and smart programming for on/off/dim/late night/middle of the night/sexy times/party times/cloudy/sunny, etc) but on the short list after that are water leak sensors for the pool over flow and for the outflow on the cistern as well as a system to calculate how many gallons are added in a rain storm and how many gallons we have in the cistern. Those along with a weather station on our roof would display on an iPad on the wall in the house and on our phones. We would also add all our solar data too.   We are both systems junkies (me conceptual systems her programming systems) so we are getting a little crazy about it. I keep asking her to hop on this board but she keeps saying “your boy board is your place I don’t want to intrude” I say, “don’t worry just say no when they ask to see your tits” but it hasn’t gotten her to join. 

 

Sorry I killed that thread, I got a little skiddish with some of the anti-trans rhetoric floating around at the time. 

Edited April 21, 2023 by troph

[royiv 9317]

2 hours ago, troph said:

Sorry I killed that thread, I got a little skiddish with some of the anti-trans rhetoric floating around at the time. 

Yeah, it was a great thread given all of the super cool stuff you guys put into the design of the house. Too bad we some intolerant assholes around here. I completely understand why you took a break.

[Hate 20108]

We need several more rains like yesterday just to get the soil wet enough for runoff. 

 

[atomheartbevo 89668]

Austin made 16 water rescues yesterday.  

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

6 hours ago, royiv said:

This is so incredibly bad ass. I loved following the thread when y'all were building. Do you have a utility hook-up as a back-up during a long drought or to get started? How do you monitor how full the tank is?

I mentioned it up thread, but mine is plumbed to the well also so I can top it off if necessary.  The red float circled shows the water level in the tank.  This is a pic from a few weeks ago right after we had 2" of rain, so about 20,000 gallons.  You can kind of see the plumbing beneath the float where the plumbing from the well ties in.  The big 6" PVC in the back is the overflow (which I still need to re-route around the retaining wall).  The little shed style building in front is the pump house.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Spaulding Smails
the maths

[YGIFS 19450]

Can one you more learned weather folks break down Sunday's predicted rain here in Austin?  We had/have some stuff planned outside with the oldest for her birthday.  

[HenryJames 66052]

[YGIFS 19450]

Thank you, Roosevelt E. Roosevelt

 

[troph 24798]

On 4/21/2023 at 9:53 AM, Born to Run said:

On 4/21/2023 at 8:16 AM, troph said:

This morning - Canada to the Gulf of Mexico - not one single break in the storms last night except Spicewood Texas. 

Behold, The Spicewood Split.

 

 

 

Spicewood split coming for us again.

Edited April 23, 2023 by troph

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

2 minutes ago, troph said:

 

 

 

Spicewood split coming for us again.

Yeah that one will skirt north of us, and the one coming from the south will stay south.  Incredible.

[Post Oak 20213]

On 4/21/2023 at 8:38 PM, Spaulding Smails said:

I mentioned it up thread, but mine is plumbed to the well also so I can top it off if necessary.  The red float circled shows the water level in the tank.  This is a pic from a few weeks ago right after we had 2" of rain, so about 20,000 gallons.  You can kind of see the plumbing beneath the float where the plumbing from the well ties in.  The big 6" PVC in the back is the overflow (which I still need to re-route around the retaining wall).  The little shed style building in front is the pump house.

Thx for posting this

[troph 24798]

👀 

 

[hornian 5219]

 

[Post Oak 20213]

Nearly 1inch in Hewitt.  Steady slow rain since about 2AM 

[Trey3216 15346]

1 hour ago, Post Oak said:

Nearly 1inch in Hewitt.  Steady slow rain since about 2AM 

Yep.  Close to 4 since Thursday evening.  And it rained a shit ton up near Stephenville last night, so that’s much needed for the lake.   

[yoladu 4094]

I can’t recall it ever being this chilly in late April. 
 

a bit weird and spooky out there. 

[HenryJames 66052]

This weather fucks.

[GoPokes83 2240]

Rained like a mother at the coast this morning. Finally!!

[Guest]

15 hours ago, yoladu said:

I can’t recall it ever being this chilly in late April. 
 

a bit weird and spooky out there. 

The grass in my backyard has greened, but not really started growing (zoysia) because it loves heat. I looked back at pictures taken in the yard past springs and it's always green and tall by now. This is the coolest spring I can remember. And yes, I'm soaking it in as much as possible.

[Hate 20108]

17 hours ago, HenryJames said:

This weather fucks.

Enjoy it while you can. The CPC thinks the next few months are going to be hotter than normal. This was issued 4/20 which may mean the forecasters were high, because there is a developing El Niño which should keep us cooler and wetter than normal. We’ll see.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Hate

[NorthLoop 14203]

Yeah I thought all predictions were leaning towards a mild summer. Fuck another summer like last year.