Potable Water Supply

PROVIDING YOUR OWN POTABLE DRINKING WATER SUPPLY

HARVEST TRANSPIRATION FROM TREES AND PLANTS
Transpired waters can be contained, collected and stored to either recycle the water used by your plants or to supplement or even replace your water supply. Corn and Juniper are two excellent examples: Corn grows fast, doesn't take up much space and transpires up to 99% of the water it uses. In this case, you can catch and recycle the water used by the corn. Juniper is very hardy, grows in dry areas, and doesn't have to be watered, so you aren't merely conserving the water, the tree is actually purifying and bringing the water source to you, though it might proove difficult to contain the waters transpired by such a large plant.

HARVEST RAINWATER
Use rain barrels to harvest rainwater from your roof and store for later use. Rainwater can supplement or even replace your drinking water supply, depending on how much rainfall you get in your area, and the size of your roof. A lack of rainfall can be overcome with more space for catching water, such as with a water cistern; a lack of space can be overcome by sufficient rainfall; and of course, as with all these suggestions -- some or even all of these methods can be combined so as to make up for a lack of water collection from one source -- with another.

HARVEST WATER FROM AIR
Harvesting water from the air is basically done in the same way that a de-humidifier removes humidity from the air, only in this case the water is saved, stored, purified and continually recirculated and repurified to maintain purity and quality. Another method of harvesting water from air may be to use (and re-use) hygroscopic materials (such as Calcium Chloride) in a passive solar distillation system. In this case, a solar fan could draw air over Calcium Chloride salts, which would absorb water vapors from incoming air; once temperatures rise to over 60 degrees Fahrenheit, Calcium Chloride reacts with the water vapors, dissolving the salts and rapidly producing temperatures of up to 140 degrees inside the solar distiller. The water vapors are then condensed, separating the Calcium Chloride salts (as well as other impurities) from the water harvested from the air... and the cycle continues. Supplement or even replace your drinking water supply, depending on humidity.

DRILL YOUR OWN WELL
This may (or might not, depending on how deep you have to drill) be very expensive and may or may not dry up within your lifetime; reliability of this drinking water supply will depend on available groundwater on your property, as well as how much water you can store at one time.