Rain Runoff Roof Maryland Crop Irrigation

Water quality of rooftop runoff.

Rain runoff roof maryland crop irrigation.

Each 1 000 square feet of high tunnel roof will yield approximately 300 gallons of water from a half inch rain. During a 1 inch shower more than 900 gallons of water flow off the roof of a 30 by 50 foot house or barn. It uses the power of gravity to collect water moving down a natural slope. In regions where crops are entirely rainfed a reduction of 50 in the seasonal rainfall for example may result in a total crop failure.

This paper presents the experimental setup the runoff coefficients obtained from different types of roof materials and the methodology used to calculate the optimum storage capacity of the tank for home garden irrigation. In most cases the risk appears to be low and using the above sanitation practices can reduce risk. If you have heavy runoff from roof downspouts and neighboring properties redirecting or capturing runoff can provide better control. To give you an idea of how much water you have at your disposal for irrigation here is a simple equation for figuring out how many gallons your roof sheds when it rains.

Gutters and tanks on each side of the tunnel will capture the maximum amount of water possible and water can be drawn alternately for irrigation needs. The following approaches to redirect and capture runoff can be used to control heavy runoff causing prolonged wet areas or yard erosion. In designing the rainwater tank sizes microirrigation systems with both drip and pot irrigation systems were assessed. Instead of catching just a little bit of it in a rain barrel why not capture it all.

Roof size in square feet x annual rainfall in inches x 6. If you lived. Rain barrels make collecting roof runoff convenient. A rain garden is a shallow depression in the ground designed to temporarily catch water from an impermeable surface such as a roof driveway parking lot or even the overflow from a rain barrel.

Soil characteristics and topography. Food and drug administration s standards for water used in agricultural irrigation the rain barrel water missed the mark only 9 percent of the time. These techniques will minimize the amount of water that accumulates or that causes erosion in the problem area. If however the available rain can be concentrated on a.

The amount of water desired to irrigate the crop in the tunnel. The resulting yield increase in the receiving crop area is proportional to the amount of water gained. If you re thinking about buying a rain barrel look for one with a first flush feature which stores the first five to 10. In summary there are risks to using collected rain water for irrigation of food crops.

Hedging your rain barrel bets. The fact is the data are still less than perfect for answering all of the questions around roof runoff and food safety.