My understanding about annual weather patterns in that part of the
country is that most of the rain occurs in one big annual onslaught
for a week or two. I recognize that there are probably other wet
moments, but the preponderance of precipitation comes during that
annual period. Am I correct?
It seems to me that a prospective builder would do everything he/she
could to take advantage of that water when it falls right in their
lap. My thoughts are that one of the first and most important things
to install on a new building site would be a cistern or other type of
water storage tank. At first it may seem backward to install it
before there is a roof to gather water to fill it. I don't think
so. Since most of the water comes during a few days, it should be
fairly easy to ceate a temporary system of tarps or billboard vinyls
or even sheet plastic spread accross the ground. Anchor it to the
ground with a bunch of rocks everywhere so that the wind will not
take it away.
With a little preparation of the ground underneath the tarps you can
probably easily gather a lot more water than any typical tank or
cistern can hold. Since the wet season, from my understanding,
doesn't last long, it would be easy to roll up the tarps after the
tank is full or the weather dries up. (Whichever comes first.)
If the storage tank is above ground, it would be a simple matter to
bury a barrell or trashcan at a lowpoint and let the tarps drain into
that. A small (float activated?) pump could then pump the water from
there to the storage tank.
A creative builder wouldn't be spending any extra money for this
temporary water system. Every construction site needs tarps anyway.
The tank is something you'll probably want or need installed
eventually anyway.
--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, JUDITH WILLIAMS
<williams_judith@...> wrote:
>
>
> I made about 1000 blocks for my building during which time I had to
haul water. Just got the well in less than a year ago. I have a tank
that fits in the back of the pickup and would go begging water from
neighbors. People are generally helpful. But it did make me extra
aware of all the water that was flowing away. I just figured it goes
back into the ground anyway so wasn't being wasted. It just took a
lot of time to get enough water to work with. Like 2 days of
gathering for 2 days of block making.
>
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