Thursday, 28 March, 2024

How to Collect Water


Watering plants in the garden

A place with stable water supply is important to off the grid way of life. A drilled well is typical and it requires the usage of the pump and a huge collection tank designed for water storage.

A well is typically used for supplying clean and potable water and it must be treated and tested on a regular basis and when needed in order to ensure that the water is safe for consumption.

The rain barrels could supplement the supply of water especially when it comes to gardening needs or depending on the annual rainfall within your location, providing more water for household purposes.

Collecting and storing water from a stream located close to your location sounds simple yet the possibility of contamination from animal waste, bacteria & other pollutants necessitates the application of water filtration & purification systems that may require extra solar energy units to work.

Waste Disposal

You should dispose your waste properly and that’s a fact of life. In terms of human waste, some homeowners prefer to use a composting lavatory system. On the other hand, this system may not be legal at some point depending on the ordinance or zoning limitations and regulations enforcement inside the county where your property is situated.

Waste disposal is among the most crucial considerations in establishing a homestead within a far-flung area. Bathroom facilities are usually one of the first facilities to be built. There are various solutions that are highly appropriate for homesteaders and residents of the isolated rural locations with no instant access to sewer or water systems.

These solutions are also suitable for those people who are trying to live off the grid and for anyone who is concerned with minimizing their effect on the environment. There are two forms of waste disposal systems and these are the composting and toilets and outhouses. Aside from these, living off the grid also involves the issues regarding material garbage.

In dealing with them, you may follow this simple and straightforward five step process:

1. Sort – when the grid went down & you know that it’ll last for a week or longer than that, few of your habits when it comes to trash disposal may need changes. The initial step that you should take is to start segregating the trash into 4 groups namely: those that will biodegrade instantly, paper products, metals and plastics and; sanitary items.

2. Dump – for the biodegradable materials, it can be deposited into a container or pile that is located at a distance from your home. These materials will start to compost and you can use them later for your garden.

3. Drain – following the initial sorting process, you have to drain off the liquids that are still inside the containers. For the non-fat containing fluids, you can simply pour them on the soil. For fatty oils and liquids, you may pour them on a small cat-hole dug and then cover that with dirt from the tunnel. It will help in preventing the attraction of insects and animals. Don’t forget that it isn’t ideal to mix oils and fats to a compost heap you’ve made from the “dump” step because it can affect and stop the process of composting.

4. Burn – there are some garbage that you can burn such as paper products and when you have spare time for them, you will realize that most paper products such as newspaper and junk mail could be made into useful paper logs. These will be good fuel sources that you will need for cooking or heating once the grid stops working.

5. Bury – for the other garbage such as plastics, metal and sanitary products, you can store them for a long time as long as you could double up the trash bags which are placed in a container with cover. But, when the grid will be down for a long time, the last resort you have is to bury these waste materials. You can dig a pit or trench which is deep enough. That way, at least a 1 ½ feet of compacted dirt can cover the garbage well. Likewise, ensure that the pit is at least a hundred feet apart from the water source.