Rain water harvesting and slow sand water filters

Website hosting continues to get more expensive. We will try to keep this blog and website running as long as we can. We do not want to run ads on this site, or on this blog.

All of the filters except 2 are still functional. There are 2 small pond filters that have been running 24/7 for over 5 years; and the water is perfectly clear. There is one fish pond that has been running for about 11 months now. The water is clear and clean; and the fish are doing nicely. Two of the slow sand filters need repair on the pipes. That will be done as soon as I am able. More later. The Covid situation has severely hampered our work. We are just now getting back to “sort of ” normal in this area in western Washington state.

In the last week of December this year, we had 11 inches of snow here and temps down to 11 degrees f. All the filters froze. As of now they are thawed out and all but 3 of them are running again.

We found info on rain water harvesting in Nevada, and created a new page with the update and all the previous data we found in past years. Nevada changed their laws in 2017. :

Another rough winter in this location. We’ve had 10 inches of snow in the partially sheltered area here, and about 12 inches in the open; and temps down to 12 degrees F. . It has not been above freezing here for about a week. All the filters are frozen.We’re not sure when they will be running again. This area has gone through temps from 106 degrees F in July, to 12 degrees F now. This is an excellent opportunity to test the filters to see how well they recover. The newest pond filter was functioning up until it froze. The water stayed clear, and odorless. The fish were doing fine. We will still need to have professional testing done on it. We are still not able to have professional testing done on the water from the filters because of Covid19.

It’s now November, 2021. Our filters, with the exception of the one with a leak in the output pipe, are approaching their 14th year of operation. The repaired cistern is still full of filtered water. Covid is still here. No professional tests can be done yet. All the filters, with the exception of one, are still functional. The pond filter, which has been going for 11 years, is still functional, and the water is crystal clear. The sand has not been changed, and no wet harrowing has been done for 9 years. The fish pond filter is still functional and that water is crystal clear. The fish are still there.

We are still recovering from the back injury. No additional work has been done. We expect to be recovered by the end of December. Two of our websites will be gone by next year. The content will be moved to our current website slowsandfilter.org, and/or here to this blog. Costs are going up exponentially and we don’t have ads on any of our websites. YouTube does put ads on our videos, but that’s not our choice, or our doing.

There have been some comments on our videos about the pipes being “too small” in the diverters and filters. Well, yes, for some situations they are. From one of the videos here is my comment:

“The recommended minimum (that is minimum) is 1 gallon per 100 square feet of roof. The maximum can be what you want. Of course, If you divert too much water you will lose a lot more than is needed. Every situation is different. For example, if you have a non-toxic metal roof, and you have virtually no wildlife or trees near the roof; you wont need as much diversion as we do here. We have a composition roof, and massive amounts of toxic substances from birds, leaves, animals, and the shingles. So we use more than the minimum.”

“While I’m at it here, there have been comments that the piping is “too small”. Well, yes for some situations it is. The size just needs to be increased if you live in an area where you get rain only once a year or so and heavy rain at that time. Yes , then these pipes used would be way too small. Just use bigger pipes. A larger plastic ball would be used instead of a ping pong ball. Measure your pipes to match the size of the float ball. The function is the same. The ball floats up and seals the opening when the diversion container is full. The draining then happens slowly after the runoff stops. Its the same theory. For this area, big pipes would be a waste, cost more, and would allow critters to crawl inside and make nests. We get lots of light rain and not torrential downpours. There are many places like this in the world.”

One of the filters has developed a slow leak in the output pipe. We were working on that until 2 months ago. A back injury here has stopped our work. We will be healed up probably within a month from now. The rest of the filters are still functional. Covid is still with us here. Its been nearly 2 years now. We will not be able to have professional testing done yet.

We are still in the process of getting more data from our websites into this blog. The fish pond is doing well and the slow sand filter is keeping the water crystal clear. When we are able to get around better, we will try to get a video up showing the filter and the fish.

This is a selection of information from our website. There will be more to come in the following months. This information is part of our ongoing research that started back in 2007. Fourteen years of work, so far. We will try to publish all of it in a somewhat understandable way. Understand that there are thousands of hours of work here. And much detail; very much detail.

Wow, last month we wrote that the weather here has been “normal”. Nothing could be further from the truth. We had 104 degrees Fahrenheit here June 28, 2021, and that was in the forest in total shade. So hot it destroyed foliage on sword ferns, trees, and salmonberry bushes here. Ungodly heat. All-time record high. Only one day, though that was enough to last me the rest of my life. Its very dry now 65 percent humidity outside. We have lots of water stored up, though. and much of it already filtered.

Filter one is still running.

The new filter output on the fish pond is gradually improving. So far, looks good. All the other pond filters are still running and the water in all the ponds is crystal clear. No mosquitoes, either. Lots of dragon flies. Some very large 2 inches; some very small less than 1 inch long.

We’ll have updates as the test on the new pond filter continues.

We have noticed, over the past 11 years, that water flowing onto the surface of a pond from an “un-ripe filter, will often have foam, or extensive amounts of bubbles forming. That water, being tested, has been full of bacteria, and other nasty stuff. Water flowing from a fully functioning slow sand filter onto the surface of a pond and splashing, and producing no foam or bubbles, is usually very pure. All of our ponds have very pure water. We use an overflow that allows the unfiltered water that doesn’t make it through the filter, to flow back into the pond; thereby adding oxygen to the pond, from the splashing, and avoiding water loss. Since the filters run 24/7, the water in these ponds is filtered over, and over and over again, even though only a tiny dribble flows from the filtered water outlet. Each pond filter has 2 outlets, filtered, and overflow.

Filter 1 is still working, and is in the process of being tested again. We are running water through it and hope to be able to have a professional testing done soon. Another pond filter will be put together this year. This will filter pond water supporting 5 medium sized fish. As we get information we will post it here on this blog.

As of June 18, 2021 we have the donation page working. Its title is “Slow sand water filter construction and operation (a summary from this blog) PDF: $7.50”. There’s a link in the header of every page. All our pages are secure, and the donation is via PayPal. We still don’t have ads on this blog, and the content of this blog is not dictated by advertisers. We are paying for all the hosting and computer expenses from our retirement income. These costs have gone up exponentially. At some point in time we will either need to have ads on this blog, obtain enough donations to pay for expenses, or simply shut it down. All our experience and discoveries will then not be available.

The weather here has been “normal”. Precipitation, and temperatures have been “normal”. We are currently starting a dry spell. Hopefully no fires will start.

It is now May 22, 2021. All the original slow sand  filters here are still functional. We have 9 slow sand filters running here. Four of them are pond filters. The latest pond filter is still being tested and no data is available. The other 8 filters are still functional. Three of them are pond filters. No tests have been done yet because of the Covid situation.

Filter 1 has been running since 2008:      http://www.slowsandfilter.org/

Filter 2 and 3 have been running since 2009:     http://www.slowsandfilter.org/

Filter 4 and 5 have been running since 2012:     http://www.slowsandfilter.org/

http://www.slowsandfilter.org/filter_five.shtml

Filter 6 (pond filter) has been running since 2010. It runs 24/7 and has an automatic overflow. The water continues to stay crystal clear:     http://www.slowsandfilter.org/pond_filter.html

The other two pond filters have been running about 8 years.

The cistern has been repaired and not leaking; it has been functional since 2010.   http://www.slowsandfilter.org/cistern_page.shtml

We did have some snow this winter. The temperatures were very close to typical for this area (Pacific Northwest Washington state). Hopefully, this year, we will be able to do some water quality testing, and flow rate testing.

It’s now December 16, 2020 covid19 is still here and, consequently,  we still cannot have any tests done by commercial testing facilities. Thankfully, the horrific political situation in this country is somewhat calmed down and science will now be respected again. There has been lots of rain here and some wind and 30 degree weather but no snow . . .  yet.

We have one new slow sand filter in operation. This filter cleans water in a 75 gallon outdoor fish tank that has 4 four inch long fish in it. This is a small filter so the results will be interesting. More details later. All but one of the original filters set up here are still running. The first filter, set up in 2007 is still functional and the sand has not been changed for 11 years. It produces crystal clear water from mildly polluted surface runoff from our roof.

The original pond filter set up 9 years ago is still in operation and the water output is crystal clear. More later.