How to harvest Rainwater for #Hydroponics

Want to collect rainwater for a hydroponics garden? Lots of gardeners are doing this to use natural resources for irrigation -- here are some tips and techniques to get natural rainwater into your reservoir or other hydroponics water system.

Rooftop Catchments

One simple way to aggregate rainwater is to catch it on the surface of a roof top and funnel it into some type of collection system. However, a very important safety tip is check the materials used for the roof and any downspouts to avoid contamination by heavy metals.

Drain Trenches or Drain Pipes

It's also possible to harvest rainwater from the ground. This can be done by building different types of ground trenches that will funnel water to where it needs to go. Pipes and culverts are also useful, and this is one way that municipalities conduct rainwater. By building a small project on a property, you can collect more of the water that falls on a regular basis.

Rain Barrel Systems

Rain barrels are another way to collect storm water. Manufacturers offer barrels with sophisticated equipment for regulating the intake of storm water, containing and releasing water when needed, and generally protecting the entire lifecycle of the water.

Rainwater Collection and the Law

Before you start to put together one of these systems, it's important to understand some of the legal processes around rainwater collection. This practice is actually illegal in many states, but some make exclusions for small household or garden projects.

The issue has to do with water rights and the ways that groundwater is manipulated. It might seem like a crazy thing to try to stop people from harvesting rainwater on their own properties, but the reality is that with water getting scarcer in a lot of places, there's a difference in how we view something so simple as catching rainwater and diverting it into a bucket or container.

Issues with Hydroponics

As mentioned above, you want the water to be clean of traces of heavy metals or bacterial contaminants. At the same time, you don't want super high levels of chlorine either. In a lot of cases, growers simply will not use tap water for hydroponics, because it doesn't produce the same results for them. They will get filtered water to use in a reservoir.

For more on hydroponics and everything that goes along with it, check out the gear and equipment that manufacturers offer for high-tech future farming.