Water storage 2025

[Nicos]

I thought it might be interesting to share how much water ( so far) we have stored for the summer?

I have 4 x 1,000 litre IBCs and 5,000 litres in an underground storage tank.
Its never enough, but I’m going to try more mulching again this year and am on the look out for one more reasonably priced IBC.

How much do you tend to use and are you ready for a potential drought again this summer?

[Vince G]

Very impressive levels!

Thought I was doing well but nowhere near you. At home I've got 8 x 25L gerry cans, 2 x 200L water butts and 1 x 100L water butt.

At the lottie I've got 2 x 200L water butts.....and 2 x 5L watering cans haha.

So 1,110 litres in all.

[Penellype]

At home I have a 130 litre water butt and 3 x 70 litre dustbins, plus several other 5 and 10 litre jerry cans - probably about 450 litres in all. It is never enough if the weather is dry for any length of time.

At the allotment I have a 1000 litre IBC, 2 x 300 litre water butts, a blue barrel (120 litres?), 6 x 70 litre dustbins and about 40 litres in large plastic bottles, probably around 2180 litres in all. I only got the IBC a couple of years ago and we haven't had a drought since, but I did use about half of the water last year before it started to rain relentlessly. I suspect what I have would be enough in most normal years, but not in a month-long drought.

[peanut]

I have got 3 big water butts plus I have an underground water storage tank that my house roof drainpipe goes into.
The house is 100yrs old and I think it was put in at the time of building it, I have no idea how much water it contains and only started using last year, after living here for 20yrs, the reason for not using it before now is not long after I had moved in my foot slipped on the lid and somehow one of my legs went straight down into the hole, how the rest of me didn't follow I have no idea!
After that near death experience I covered it over with a huge pot.
Then I became addicted to buying blueberry plants and had to face my fear. I am slowly making friends with it...

[Snoop Puss]

^You were lucky, peanut. Could have been awful. I remember when we first moved in here and went to inspect our well. I said to Mr Snoop "watch out, we've no idea what's here" just seconds before his leg went through a rotted wooden cover over a deep concrete pit. Would have been the end of him if he'd fallen in.

As for us, there's the well, which Mr Snoop regards as our underground water source. Hasn't run dry yet, but not far off in a couple of years.

In addition, I've got 12,000 litres of rainwater stored in an overground water tank.

Sounds a lot but... when I had my veg patch running properly, I reckon I used 3,000 litres a week in July and August (less the rest of the year), all administered then by 7-litre watering can. Talk about devotion to duty.

[peanut]

Snoop Puss only took me 19yrs to get over it!
Your husband had a lucky escape with that, must have scared the life out him and you!

[Snoop Puss]

Snoop Puss only took my 19yrs to get over it!
Your husband had a lucky escape with that, must have scared the life out him and you!

Certainly did me. He'd pooh-poohed me just before his leg went through, so he had to pretend it was nothing...

[rary]

peanut I would bet she even had the insurance looked out😁 just joking Snoop, like my OH you would have waited,,,,,,,, at least ten minutes

I have three 150lt. and one 200lt. drums to catch the rain off the greenhouse, basically to save me carrying a watering can from the house and also for wetting my compost,its been many years since there was a hose ban in this area and that came about because of a burst pipe, in the past 15 to 20 years three dams have been closed down due to most of the industries that used the water closing, I reckon that if they filled the empty oil tankers with water from this area we could make a fortune

[Andraste]

You guys make our efforts seem feeble! I guess as we only have a 1/2 plot we don't need so much. We have 2 of those blue barrels Penellype mentioned and usually stick a couple of buckets out to catch rain if needed. I made a concerted effort to not be too eager to water last year and definitely watered less than we have in previous years so we didn't need to resort to the plot tap at all

[peanut]

I've just received an email from Anglian Water telling me they are ugrading my water meter to a smart water meter, something else for me to get fixated on!

[Penellype]

I suppose in addition to how much water is actually stored, another relevant aspect is how it is collected. At home my problem is ground space to house water butts, as I have as much water as I can collect running off the house roof. At the allotment the problem is the other way round - the only roof space is a 6ft by 4ft shed, which only tends to collect water falling on the west-facing half of the roof. I therefore have to be creative if I don't want to run out of water, even if it rains.

What I do at the allotment is turn the dustbin lids upside down so that they collect as much rain as possible. I also have some plant trays, the sort without holes in, which measure about 22 inches by 13 inches and I put these on the paths between the beds to collect as much rain as possible. Whenever there is heavy rain it collects in puddles on the paths, so I dash down to the allotment as soon as I can when the rain stops and scoop up the puddles with a flat bottomed compost scoop. After very heavy rain I can get as much as a dustbin full (occasionally more) from the puddles, which would have drained away in a few hours.

I have also been known to collect snow if the bins are not full.

[Snoop Puss]

Crumbs, Penellype. That's devotion to duty.

Some people here put down tarpaulins before forecast rain, either on sloping ground or raised at one end and shaped to divert rainfall on it into some kind of collection vessel. Might such an approach be worth thinking about?

[bramble]

I have two water butts running off the greenhouse roof snd two blue barrels for the overflow.
Plus buckets and half barrels left at the back of our shed.