Our Water Supply

For those of you that don't know - we get our water from a catchment tank (it's the equivalant to a mainland cistern). Rainwater gets collected in a tank that holds about 5200 gal of water. Since we get 60+ inches of rain a year this size tank should be fine at most times of the year. (July/Aug might be a little sketchy.)

Matiu backplastering the k-11

We wont go into the politics of Kapoho Vacationland and the KKWA (Water association down here) but suffice it to say that a few days before the wedding we lost our other water source although we knew it was coming. Robert and the guys had been working on the existing catchment tank, refurbishing it and putting the k-11 on it.  Chris (my brother) helped Robert plumb the pressure tank and pump and within 3 days we were back in business. We now have a sustainable water system (as long as it rains, and if it doesn't we can order 4000 gals at a time!)

We filter it and it is probably way more drinkable than any city water. I usually have a load of clothes in the washer and as soon as it starts to rain, I turn the washer on and do laundry till it stops raining. You do have to think about adjusting your usage - unless you are from the desert and used to being spare with water!

Overall the project has cost us about $1500 - and we still have about $400 to spend on the UV filter. After about 50 months (4 yrs), our water will be free from there on! (Water from the KKWA runs about $60-90 per month.) We did weigh the option of having a well dug but we are too close to sea level to not be inundated by salt water.

This is the tank filling up from rainwater. We have two sides of roofs draining into it right now and we are adding a third today!