Rain man: Jerry Block plans to save every drop

Jerry Block's house in Monte Sereno, Calif., just west of San Jose, looks ordinary enough, but peek in his backyard and you'll see an elaborate water-harvesting system that will collect as much as 20,000 gallons per year.

Considering that a typical American household of four can use about 400 gallons of water a day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and UNICEF estimates that a person could live off just 5 gallons per day, Block's storage system might seem excessive. But the green-minded retired anesthesiologist says the size and scope of his system -- four massive holding tanks and specialized rain gutters -- were determined by how much water he would need to irrigate an acre of land. His goal, he says, will be to store enough water in the rainy season to irrigate crops and produce food the rest of the year.

“We sized our system according to how much water we’d need to grow enough trees, fruits and vegetables for two people,” Block says. “We get about 15 inches of rain, and we live on an acre of land, so that works out to about 20,000 gallons of irrigation water per year.”

Could Block's setup be duplicated in other regions, assuming a homeowner had the land and didn't mind the look? Yes. The problem is that the rainwater technically is gray water -- not clean enough for drinking or bathing. Block insists that his water could be filtered easily and inexpensively, and even without a filtering system, he says he could help his neighbors in the event of fire.

“We could also use it for the toilets,” he adds. “But we haven’t done that yet.”

Block spent $29,000 on the system, which was made by Rain Harvesting Systems and Gutterglove. “But I see it as a long-term investment into a very critical infrastructure,” he says.

Block sees deep geo-political ramifications. Water, he points out, is tied to energy production, and by weaning ourselves off water, we’re weaning ourselves off foreign interests. “I see this as a patriotic act,” he says.

“People don’t realize just how scarce fresh water is getting. We really take it for granted.”

-- Paul Young

 

Photos, from top: Jerry Block and his four water storage tanks; a detail of the Gutterglove Gutterguard, a filter that prevents leaves and other debris from entering the system; the Rain Harvesting Systems setup includes a red pipe that serves as a "roof washer" (a secondary filter to remove contaminants such as bird droppings) and a green pipe that delivers rainwater to the storage tank; Block lets out some of the water from a tank.

Photo credit: Robert Lenney

Comments

[s. spilman]

Perfect for turning the back yard of a multimillion dollar home into a semblance of the storage back-forty of an oil refinery.

[Bill Lehtonen]

Kudos to Rain Man! GreenPlumbers is fond of saying, remember when? Lets hope because of your efforts more and more people will be able to say, remember when we used to flush our toilets with drinking water? Keep up the good work and may you be blessed with a bountiful garden to save on your grocery bill.

[Spurious Factoid]

Okay, I know 400 gallons per day per household (100 gallons per person per day) sounds like a lot, but to reference UNICEF's 5 gallon per day (20 gallons per household) number implies we should all be living in refugee camps. No thanks to that implied comparison.

Seems like a reasonable indoor budget (per pending state legislation) is 55 gallons per person per day. And with effort, an even lower number can be attained.

Outdoor budget of course depends on where you live, how much land you have, and how much of that is landscaped. Rain harvesting has promise in some climates where rains come at intervals enough water cycles through the storage equipment to amortize it's cost.

For now, anyone investing in this is doing so at a significant loss due to the high cost of the containers and the limited volume of water.

To give you an idea, 325,000 gallons of water will cost you between 700 and 1000 dollars in Southern California. Many communities that subsidize water through taxes pay much less.

So 20,000 gallons this guy will capture (and it looks like he lives in the hills where more rain falls than in most of California) is worth about $50 to $70 a year. That's a long time to recapture $29,000 in equipment.

The problem here is that certain enthusiastic conservationists will point to these measures and say that other water supplies are therefore not needed. "We can just harvest all the rain" they say. That amounts to a 10 fold rate increase imposed from Sacramento. Beware the good example of individual initiative (at great cost) applied to a statewide mandate!

I applaud his efforts, but I don't want his example crammed down on me from Sacramento!

[DW]

Wow. That water is costing $33,000 per acre-foot. I have some swamp land in Florida that I would like to sell Jerry.

[Rhonda Beatty-Gallo]

Rain man has the money, but more importantly he is putting it to good use. Not only is he saving precious resources for future use, but he is also keeping the amount of water run-off into the drains and down the streams to a minimum. What water he saves and uses makes that much accessible perhaps to those who don't have the money for the advanced system. The percolation of water through the earth is a good thing. It feeds the natural water systems below the dirt, while lowering erosion and silt deposits in our watersheds.

Kudos Rain Man!

[sixgun98]

Good for Jerry... he lives where rainfall is 14" per year, what about those of us who live where average rainfall is 1" to 2" per year? $29,000! This guy has that kind of money to throw around without blinking an eye? I think one of Obama's Czars should pay this guy a visit and collect some taxes (he must be one of those rich people).

[Jim Poehlman]

Approximately the same amount of water (50 GPD) can be collected from a large residential air conditioner, without the need to filter and have massive storage. Current central air conditioners with efficiencies of 16-18 SEER, produce up to 5 gallons of water per ton, per day, and condensate is produced on both cooling and heating cycles, year round. Air conditioner condensate is available every day, not just if it rains, and therefore does not require huge storage tanks and can be used as required. The installation of condensate reclaiming equipment can be completed by most homeowners for under $1000. Why not collect the water "before it falls"?

[Pavlova Vitale]

I think that is a great idea if you have the space to put such an elaborate system. I only have a couple of drum looking canisters near my gutters. Perhaps an undergroud storage would be better. Like the cisterns that I think might be used in the middle east? I wonder too, if more people harvested, how that would impact our water table levels...

[Arthur!]

Its like all the smug people driving Privis when actually if they took the bus they would save more fuel and reduce polution.