Rainwater Harvesting
in Cisterns

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We design and install high-quality, highly-functional rain systems and water systems that are capable of providing for any water need. Many of our clients catch water for irrigation and outdoor use, while some supply their indoor uses with rainwater, for potable and non-potable taps. Each of our systems are designed specifically around the client needs and desires, and range from simple and practical to extravagant and fully automated.

(2) 1000g tanks that are sistered together so they function as one tank. Input, overflow and distribution pump all come out of the tank on the right.

The crew at Asheville Drainage & Rain Harvesting has installed approximately 200 cisterns in the past 10 years. The sizes range from 300-5000 gallons, with 1500g and 2000g being the most common size.

On 1000ft2 in a 1" Rain, 622 gallons of water fall

You can capture that water in tanks.
Contact us to start the process, or scroll down to learn more.

Contact us to start harvesting rain

Why Harvest Rainwater?

Rainwater, even in tanks, is just water, and can be used for anything you use water for, including but not limited to:

• Exterior uses, irrigation, filling hot tubs, washing your tractor, and having water fights
• Indoor grey water, for flushing toilets and doing laundry inside of the house
• Potable indoor water (for primary or backup water), all domestic use, including drinking and showering

The desired use of the water does, to some extent, determine the design and components of the rain cistern, but mostly it is just the level of filtration that you put the water through before it gets to the tap.

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Want to learn more about rain systems? Visit our cistern system components page to see some of the different components we commonly install in our systems.

Learn more about cistern systems

Designing your Rainwater System

In any rain system, it is important to understand and articulate the need. How much water do you need, and what quality of water do you need? How important is it to you that you don't run out? Answering these questions can help you define your system.

For example, if you have a vegetable garden, how many ft2 is it? What are your irrigation requirements (400-600g/week per 1000ft2). Next, do you have city back up or not? Can you buy lettuce at the store if yours is killed in a drought? If you answer "no" to both of these questions, we must size your system so that you'll always have enough. If you have one or 2 'yeses', than we can plan for that.

So how much water do you need, and what size catchment area do you have the ability to harvest from? Working with these numbers will give you an idea of how large of a tank you are going to need to meet your needs.

Most projects we install in this area do not suffer greatly if they run out of water, so we size the tanks at what will fill up somewhere between 3" and 5" of rain. So if you have 1000ft2 of roof, you'll get 1800 gallons of water in a 3" rain and 3000 gallons in a 5" rain. For this situation, we would recommend between 1500g and 3000g of storage, depending on the need.

Hire us today to design and install your custom rainwater collection system

Hydrology 101 - Intro to Rain Harvesting

Learn how rain that falls on your house and property in the city in the SE affects the hydrologic cycle as a whole, and what you can do to reinforce that cycle in the most beneficial and sustainable way possible.  The positive and negative effects of sustainably managing your rainwater are remarkably far reaching and broad!