We previously built a first flush diverter to improve the quality of the rainwater we collect off of the roofs, and it has been working quite well. The first rains fill up the diverter with water that contains dust and animal droppings from the roof, and then after that, the water comes down a chain to full up the collection urns.

Just one or two days of heavy rains can actually fill up all of the urns, but since we are collecting all of the water off of all of the roof surfaces of BaanMae, even a few light rains can significantly raise the water levels in the urns. But now that we have the rainwater, how to use it?

This week, we experimented with adding water taps to all of the collection urns.

The water pressure comes entirely from the weight of the water in the urn and provides enough of a flow to water plants and trees.

Since the urns are on the ground, the water pressure difference between the top of the water in the urn and the height of the hose outlet isn’t that much. But since we aren’t in a rush, we can simply run the hose from whichever urn we want to use to whichever tree or plant and just leave it on for an hour or two if need be.

We even came up with a simple “auto shutoff” in case we want to go out for lunch and leave it. We just lift up the end of the hose. If the end of the hose is at half the height of the water in the urn, then only half of the water in the urn will flow out. (Although it will flow very slowly when the height difference gets low.) This allows you to decide how much water this tree needs, put something under the hose to raise it to that height, and walk away. Simple but effective.

One last piece that makes this work is the quick release hose connectors we bought from HomePro. Because there are 4 urns collecting water off of different roof surfaces at BaanMae, we can take any hose of the needed length and carry it over to any urn and instantly clip it on. Watering becomes a snap.