Background: My house is located on the Space Coast of Florida. For those who don’t know- Florida is the flattest state in the USA, and so, flooding is a constant problem for us. Furthermore, this week Tropical Storm Fay decided to come visit, resulting in massive flooding. One consequence of this flooding has been the temporary contamination of our water supply. As a result, we have been advised not to drink or cook with tap water until after the storm has passed.
Problem: Our traditional gutters simply route water from the roof into the ground beside the house. When flooding occurs, the gutters continue to deliver rain water directly next to the house, where it begins to seep through the wall and into the house interior. Furthermore, our water supply is unreliable during an emergency.
Idea: A system to gather rain water, store it for emergency use, and then deposit excess water into the storm drain, rather than an already-flooded yard. Here is a crude diagram to help illustrate my idea:
Step 1: Rain hits the roof, and is collected by the gutters
Step 2: Gutters carry the water down from the roof
Step 3: Rather than dump the water into the ground, it is delivered into a large plastic barrel; something like this 55 gallon drum here
Step 4: Each of these barrels is connected to one another with PVC pipes; as a result the water level will equalize itself between all barrels from the force of gravity alone
Step 5: The final barrel will be positioned directly outside of the garage, which is where our water heater is located
Step 6: The final barrel will be have a release valve coming out the top; when the barrel is full, excess water will escape through this valve. This will lead into a drainage pipe, which will direct excess water into the sewer drain located in the street in front of our house
Step 7 (not pictured): The final barrel (5) will also include a pipe to draw water into the garage. Inside the garage, some sort of pump/filtration system will convert rain water into drinkable water, and then distribute it into the normal plumbing of the house.
My theory goes like this: so long as rain water is available, the house will be self-sufficient. When no rain water is available, the house will draw from the normal water supply, provided from the city via the sewer. During a storm, the house will have plenty of emergency rain water to use while city water is unavailable. During normal days, the house will remain self-sufficient as long as possible, by gathering and storing rain water. When no rain water is available, i.e. during a drought, city water will serve as the fallback supply.
Furthermore, rather than flood the yard, and eventually the house, the new gutter system will divert all unusable water directly into the sewer drain, and back to the city water supply.
Issues: I am not an engineer, and so, this is nothing more than a brainstorm. All corrections and ideas are very welcome and encouraged. There are many issues with a system such as this, for example:
How safe is rain water? Can it be filtered into usable drinking water?
Are my expectations of fluid dynamics accurate? Will the above design fail to work the way I expect it to? Will secondary pumps be required to keep water levels equal among all barrels? Will the release valve be able to accommodate a sudden flash flood? Does each barrel require a secondary (emergency) release valve?
Will this system prevent flash flooding? If the sewer is already flooded, this system won’t do a lick of good to prevent my yard from submerging itself. However, assuming the city drainage systems continue to work normally, will this system help divert potential flood waters away from my house?
Can such a system be built to handle hurricane-force winds? I assume that 55 gallons of rain water is heavy enough to stay attached to the ground even during heavy winds. Furthermore, all gutters and pipes could be attached to the house itself. Am I being overly optimistic?
Could the same system work underground? The biggest flaw with this design is that it will result in a bunch of ugly barrels surrounding the house. But- what if the barrels were at least partially buried, and still level with one another. In other words, imagine the same design (above), but with each barrel coming up out of the ground only a foot or so, and surrounded (hidden) by a planting bed. Would it still work? It would certainly look nicer.
What about step 7? How do I turn rain water into drinking water, and distribute it through the house? Is it as simple a series of filters to remove debris and contaminates? If so, could I also run city water through the same filtration process, to ensure high quality regardless of source? What about leaves, sand and other sentiment? Can I somehow filter the gutters to remove large debris before it reaches the barrels?
As I said, I am looking to connect with other people who know more about this sort of thing than I do, especially those of you who have already done something similar. If you are an engineer with a sustainability fetish, please help a brother out and leave a comment with your thoughts, opinion and advice.
Posted by Josh 
