Liquid water is the most important necessity for the human body, other than oxygen, and humans have to take in a fair amount of it each day or it will become dehydrated (in the worse cases, kidney failure, and even death will result).  You have to always have a safe, potable, and steady supply of water in order to survive as well as irrigate crops and water livestock.  The folks who live in towns and cities usually have to rely on a municipality or other government agency to get water, and then only in the amounts that the bureaucrats tell you that you may use.

 In defense of many governmental entities, sometimes water conservation is needed in order to keep everyone able to have some running water.  Some governmental bodies take the interests of a small number of special interest people to severely and unreasonably stop any water use; A prime example of this is the delta smelt battle in the State of California. Here some clowns have convinced some judge that a little fish, who is not even native to the area, should be protected and the pumping systems should be shut down in order to protect them.  Needless to say, an out of control over reaching and power hungry governmental body exercising this kind of water control can ruin many people’s lives (at least 50,000 jobs were lost and family farms were destroyed here in California).  The point that I am trying to get at is that you have to once again look out for your family and yourself. 

Everyone can produce at least some of their own water for use in the garden or to water a small flock of chickens.  Rain water collection is easier than you may think as you basically only need a clean drum (like a food grade 55 gallon drum) and a roof.  The basic theory is simple, rain water lands on the roof and sheets down into the rain gutters.  Next, the rain gutters will direct the rain water towards the ground through the downspout and into the barrel which then is saved for another day.  The downspout modifications you need to make, in order to direct the water into your barrels, are not very difficult to do and can be done by almost anyone. First, clean out your rain gutters really well and then cover the drain hole with some hardware cloth, in order to keep the leaves from clogging up the pipe, Then just run the pipe into the barrel.  Have a small overflow hole on top of the barrel to allow extra water to flow out so that water will not back up the down spout.  This does not sound like a whole lot of water, but we are talking about over 200 gallons that can be used for your garden micro drip system (which may last you the better part of a summer).

This system can be used on a much larger scale as well.  I know of a man who intends to build a cistern under his front lawn to channel his roof rain run off into this cistern.  He figured that he would be able to gather about 33,000 gallons a year just from the sparse Southern California rains which landed on the roof of a single family, suburban home.  In any desert like area, this incredible amount of water saved for future use instead just wasted by running down a storm drain.  Before you start to use the gathered water for drinking, please have it tested to make sure that it will be safe for you too.  This system would of course be great for your irrigation needs.  This passive gathering means is a great way to "bank" this liquid gold.  In order to figure out how much water you can catch with any given surface of roof you can find that sort of data on the internet.

Ponds are another form of collecting rain run off from the surrounding landscape.  Ponds can be either natural or man made or maybe  little of both.  People sometimes dig depressions in the ground and possibly line the bottom with a clay lining.  A small stream or a spring may be diverted to flow into the pond (check local regulations to make sure that you can do this) slowly filling.  If you intend to build a pond then please consult an engineer to design it. If your pond does not have a clay bottom then it will sink down through the soil and rock to replenish the water table.  Again there are resources out there on the internet to figure out how much land run off it would take in order for you to gain an acre foot of pond water.  Ponds might not be the premier source of potable water as it is highly susceptible to outside parasites and contamination so you would probably would want to treat it before you drink it.  Pond water is ideal for crop irrigation and livestock watering (it is probably best not to let the cattle wander directly into your pond as the will contaminate the water and break down the banks).  In fact, it is a good idea to keep your large stock out of streams and springs as well to kept things flowing well.  Ponds are a great way to catch and store some "free" water for later use.

Springs and artesian wells are water sources that rise up because of under ground rock formations interacting with water forces.  Some springs run all year long and these are a real find when it comes to filling your water needs.  If you notice that your spring dries up in the summer then you probably do not want to totally rely on it.  Just because you do not have surface water year round does not mean that you do not have an under ground stream or river flowing year round.  Down in the canyon next to our house we have small stream which flows slowly (sometimes only a trickle) on the surface.  I have dug down just about one foot and saw that there was more water flowing.  This sort of water source offers some real opportunities to collect this water into a pond or cistern.  You could trench in the little stream bed and place a "trench drain" into the bed (again check out your regulations-or not) which would make it easier to move more water faster towards a collection point of your choice.  Little streams and springs can also be directed via pipe to a place that suits your needs (such as a spring house).

Water you can obtain through passive means is hard to beat to provide all or even part of your needs.  If you look around passive water collection is easier that you may think to obtain.  In part two of this article I will write on more active means of obtaining a water supply.