In 1980 I met a priest that my wife helped create his own local church separate from the Catholic Church before I met her. He was a very interesting fellow now passed away here in 2018. However, since he once had been District Attorney of Santa Cruz County before he became a Jesuit priest he was never defrocked by the Catholic church so in many ways the Catholic Church saw him as a genius because he had about a 200 IQ and saved many many lives from the 1960s in Santa Barbara until he moved north closer to the SF BAY Area. He was a famous priest to the alternative people passing through Santa Barbara in the Late 1960s and 1970s. So, he taught people many innovative ways of thinking that saved many many lives throughout his long life.
To me, he was an amazing rarity in life because not only was he an intellectual genius with 200 IQ he was also an intuitive genius which I could greatly relate to. So, we had many interesting and amazing conversations and he often talked on Alternative Radio and TV shows because he was amazing to listen to. He also wrote many books. He also took people on tours to the holy lands in the middle East and took people on Dolmen tours to England, Scotland, Ireland and Brittany in France. Stonehenge is a Dolmen site if you don't recognize that term.
One of his many innovative ideas that he put into practice at that time was to capture water from his roof in wine barrels that he purchased from wineries here in California once they had finished using them for making wine. Then he put them on end and connected them directly to his down spouts from his roof. This water he would then boil in his tea kettle for coffee, tea and for unlimited drinking water. But, this wasn't the end of his innovation. He and his congregation bought the house next door which had it's own cement septic tank from the old days. But now days there was a municipal septic system so he connected the house next door to the municipal septic system and opened the old septic tank and cleaned it out so he could grow his own rainbow trout for eating by cleaning the septic tank until is was safe to put rainbow trout in it. Then he covered the open part of the septic tank converted with chicken wire for bugs to get through it to feed the rainbow trout he grew for him and friends to eat. This also kept the raccoons and cats from eating his trout as well at night. Then he also kept chickens in the back yard next door and he put the chicken scat on his organic garden where he grew food. If any rainbow trout died he used them for fertilizer too on his organic garden. So, basically he could be relatively self sustaining much more than most people in his area. He did this to set an example for his congregation to do the same if they wished and also wound up on TV and radio talk shows championing many of his very innovative ideas at the time.
But, here's the thing about capturing rain water off your roof worldwide.
First, it is going to taste like whatever roofing you have on your roof.
For example, if you have asphalt roofing like most people do your water from your roofs (even after boiling is going to taste a little like asphalt.
If your roof is cedar shake it is going to taste a little like Cedar.
If your roof is made of cement tiles it is going to taste a little like cement.
If your roof is made of metal like aluminum roofing like you see often in the tropics or in places like Nepal in the Himalayas, it is going to taste like metal or rust some.
But, if you do this you have an almost unlimited supply of fresh water especially if it rains a lot where you live anywhere on earth.
And even if it isn't raining often dew or condensation comes off your roofs every night or early morning into your wine barrels for you to collect too.
The priest had so much extra water he would run the extra to his fish septic tank where he grew his rainbow trout for eating and he also watered his chickens, his garden and his lawn with the extra water often too.
So, as far as drinking water he boiled first, the fish tank where he kept underground his rainbow trout, his chickens, and his organic garden he was self sustaining pretty much water wise, just from runoff all captured in wine barrels from two homes with yards from the downspouts from his roofs.
Since his roofs were asphalt that's what his water tasted like by the way.
So, if you like coffee or drinking water that tastes ever so slightly like asphalt, cement or cedar or metal this is one way to go worldwide.
For him, it was about being self sustaining and teaching his congregation to be the same more than anything else.
But, now it makes sense for many other reasons here in 2018.
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