About rainwater harvesting

Rainbarrels line the side of a garage.Rainbarrels line the side of a garage.This page includes the main article, web resources, city resources, and links to other water harvesting organizations around the county.

Harvesting rainwater can reduce our need--and demand--for water transport systems that threaten the health of the water cycle and our local environments.

On any house lot, there are three potential sources for harvesting the rain: Direct rainfall, street harvesting, and roof harvesting.

Rainwater harvesting projects

Two rainwater barrels.Two rainwater barrels.

See rainwater harvesting projects including rainbarrels, cisterns, and curb cuts.

  • 200 gallons of rain storage using rain barrels
  • 500 gallon cistern with "first flush" diverter
  • Curb cuts to harvest street runoff water
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Image galleries
Last rainbarrel Rain barrels
First flush close up Cisterns
A swale catches runoff and lets it sink into the soil. Earthworks
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Bamboo irrigated with greywater
Bamboo irrigated with greywater

Bamboo grown with greywater infiltrated into mulch basins.

barrels
barrels
barrels

corn
corn
corn

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Barrels for humanure
Barrels for humanure

Humanure is moved to barrels for final composting. The barrels are vented (not shown) and screened. Humanure is left for one year to compost, then used as a soil ammendment in the yard.

Corn grown with urine fertilizer
Corn grown with urine fertilizer

Corn grown with urine fertilizer is much larger than the other corn. Urine is a valuable nitrogen based fertilizer.  (photo by Peter Morgan, Aquamor, Zimbabwe).

Double vault dry toilet
Double vault dry toilet

This is a double vault dry toilet. Urine is diverted with a urine diverting toilet seat. A vent releases odors above the structure.

Retrofit composting toilet
Retrofit composting toilet

The floor of this bathroom is a concrete slab, so the composting toilet was built "up".
It includes a urine diverting toilet insert, so that urine and feces are collected separately below the toilet.
An access hatch for emptying the collection containers is located on the outside of the house.

Urine fertilized corn
Urine fertilized corn

Corn grown on the right was fertilized with urine, a high quality nitrogen fertilizer.
The corn grown on the left was not. (photo by Peter Morgan of Aquamor, Zimbabwe)

Bucket to collect humanure
Bucket to collect humanure

This is the collection bucket for the humanure. It is emptied every few weeks into a larger compost bin behind a shed for full composting. The urine has been diverted out with a urine diverting toilet insert.

Collection hatch
Collection hatch

A hatch opens to an enclosed part of the crawl space where the humanure is collected. The urine goes directly outside through the black tube into a bucket. It is diluted with water and used to fertilize the yard.

Urban composting toilet
Urban composting toilet

The prettiest composting toilet in Oakland!  This toilet was built during a full bathroom remodel.
The collection chamber is below the house in a sectioned off area of the crawl space.

Mexican made composting toilet
Mexican made composting toilet

This is the composting chamber of a Mexican fabricated "continuous" composting toilet. Material is added to the top, and composted "humanure" is harvested from the bottom. The chamber faces south and gets heated by the sun to speed up the composting process.

Milpa: corn, beans, and squash, fertilized with humanure
Milpa: corn, beans, and squash, fertilized with humanure

This milpa: corn, beans, and squash, is fertilized with fully composted "humanure". The nutrients excreted from the body are recycled to grow more food, creating a closed loop system.