More Barrels

Following on from our 'watertanks' that we did using olive barrels, giving us just under 1000l capacity (950l for $154.71), we have another half dozen or so barrels and I'm trying to figure out where to put them and how.  Do I put them all in one place as a big array, or spread them out a little bit?

barrel array done Sept 2011.

 So today, because I am trying to do more rather thank think about doing more, I have put the new barrels
around the place where I thought they would be good to catch water that's otherwise wasted, and where it already has a 'harvesting' system (ie gutters).  I thought that those places would require less outlay in terms of materials and could be done with minimal modifications.
It also will help to minimise the problem of water running where it's not currently wanted as where the downpipes were put via previous owners, when you get a decent rain you end up with a small stream down the garage...

They need to be raised up a bit to allow for gravity feed.  I have a milk crate underneath a couple of them now to get an idea of height.  That will prob not be strong enough and may not even be tall enough but it's just to get an idea at this stage.  Also raising them up this is kind of a good thing because it means cutting the downpipe which will provide downpipe offcuts that could be used elsewhere.

Potentially we could have a line of them going up the side of the house behind the garage door (which would mean changing the inlet to the highest point barrel, so it doesn't have to push uphill to run into the next barrel) but for now, they can at least catch the rainwater from the downpipes.
I'd like to have a passionfruit or berry or something growing along the dividing fence out the front (minimal ground space used) from two long pots, and this could be the water supply for those.

There is one at the corner of the house where the worm farm is at the moment.  I can move the worm farm if it's confirmed that's where the barrels will go.  I thought that if that's a good spot, the barrels could be lined up as an array on the backside of the house from that one downpipe (along the wall that is the toilet/laundry) where they are stacked now - we could have three there at the moment.  We can add on to the array as we get more barrels.  It would maybe also help with thermal mass for the house (keeping the back wall cooler).

I put one near the downpipe that's in front of the clothes line... not sure about that one.  It's a bit in the way but it's otherwise water going nowhere that we can use it.  Potentially a small garden bed for herbs could go there in front of/alongside the barrel which would make it a useful space, free up space in the garden (because the herbs have a spot) and 'camoflague' the barrel a little bit so it's not sticking out so much.  That's a less possible spot for a barrel but just an idea.  They'd definitely have a ready water supply!

I am sure there are a number of reasons why the places I've chosen aren't the right spots, so will consult and see where to go from there.  If they go in, I'll blog it along the way and in terms of capcity, if they go in we'll have approx 2000l available when they're full.  Not nearly enough for our family of 6 but better than nothing at all, and a better use of the water than is currently made of it, which is visual interest only (ie watching it all run away in a downpour).