Rain, Finally

We're still in a drought here in California and will be for the foreseeable future but we have been getting some much needed rain. We actually got an unexpected storm a couple months back and I woke up in the early morning to the sound of heavy rain, which wasn't quite music to my ears yet. I had been working slowly on drainage but I didn't have everything connected so I was just picturing the water dropping straight down to where I didn't want it. In the end it wasn't a big deal but it did speed up my work.

I'm harvesting rain in a couple places with the big tank and the older smaller barrels but those have first flush diverters that need to allow the initial water to pass and then go somewhere as well as the tank/barrel overflows. For the large tank, I ended up only connecting one downspout since on even a relatively small roof the tank can fill in just a few storms. This one required the first flush diverter to be mounted a bit higher but then it was just a matter of connecting three-inch drain pipes together using glued and rubber connectors.

Here you can see the first flush diverter with horizontal piece that goes to filling the tank. The vertical piece allows the first flush water to continue down and then out to the daylight end.

Here is the rest of the system. The first flush comes from behind the end of the tank and then parallels it until it connects with the overflow pipe and continues on with a couple jogs to where it daylights at the corner of the carriage house and waters a timber bamboo.

The barrel first flush and overflow connections were a bit more complicated. When building the deck I ran a 3" piece of pipe along the house and under the deck to be connected later. After a bunch of contemplating, I decided on the best way to connect everything, which you can see below.

The filling piece was easy as it just needed some 3" pipe and one connector. The first flush also just needed 3" pipe and connectors but the alignment was a bit more tricky with the 45-degree connector and a Y-connector. The overflow, though, took some thought but with a flexible elbow, 1 1/2" ABS pipe and connectors, plus a reducer I was able to get it to work. It then all connects up with the under deck pipe via an elbow.

At the other end of the deck it got complicated again because I needed to connect a downspout to the drain line. Using a combination of rubber connectors, 1 1/2" ABS, and the reducer, I got that connected in and the water continues off to the left in the picture where it changes from 3" hard pipe to 3" flexible corrugated drain pipe. It then hooks up with the neighbors' downspouts and out towards the front where the plan is to dump the water in the new swales that were put in as part of the neighbors' new landscaping.

There's one other spot I want to show but I don't have any photos so I'll need to add it here or write another post. I also have a few other projects from the summer and fall to show so stay tuned.