Easy Way To Filter Rain Water From Your Roof

Use 5/gal buckets at the downward eves of your home (works better without gutters). Put a 3 gallon buckets inside the 5/gal ones. The first few minutes of rain will fill the 3/gal buckets, then they will overflow from the top into the 5/gal buckets, leaving all the dirt, leaves, nuts, bird poop, etc in the smaller buckets. After 5 minutes of rain, lift out the 3/gal buckets, and toss the dirty water out. Now the 5/gal buckets can continue to fill with clean rainwater. Make sure, when you put the 3/gal bucket inside the 5/gal bucket that the handle is up and not down inside, to make them easier to lift. Some people still use 1/2 the 3/gal bucket, dumping it in a way that still leaves the dirt in the bottom. There is still going to be a minor amount of grime in the 5/gal bucket, but just a smidgen. If you want, you can add a small hole towards the bottom of a side of the larger bucket, and put a plug in it. When it comes time to use, tip the bucket just enough for the dirt at the bottom to head toward your hole. Pull the plug and out goes the dirt, Replug it and use your nice clean rainwater any way you want. If you are very strong, or have a helper, you can use this same idea for much larger containers. Remember, water is heavy, so get help and spare your back and
muscles! The photos below show the smaller buckets floating in the bigger ones after they've been emptied, because sometimes I like doing it twice in a heavy rain.