Rain!

I woke up in the early morning hours last night to the sound of rain and lay in bed for a moment before I realized I was also hearing the gurgling of the first flush diverter filling (part of the rainwater catchment system).  It just so happens that it is right on the other side of the thin, stick frame/stucco wall, from my bed, and I had spent the earlier part of the day frantically doing finishing touches that would allow the water to actually flow from the gutters into the first flush, so once I realized that I was hearing the sounds of the system filling, I was wide awake.  I even jumped out of bed and ran outside into the dark and rain to see what I could see.  With my hand on the large vertical pipe, I could feel the vibrations of water inside.  

The first flush, for those of you who don't know, is a larger diameter pipe that is attached to the side of the house vertically, is closed at the bottom, with a valve that can be opened, and has a holding capacity of about 5 gallons.  There is also a small ball in there which floats on top of the water,  and plugs access once its completely full, diverting water to the diagonal pipe which flows to the tanks, for the rest of the storm.  The purpose of this is to allow the roof rinse water- that first 5 gallons that flows over roof that's long been dry and has potentially collected  dead animals and poop on it- to be diverted, and not stored in the tanks along with all the  "cleaner" water.

Thanks so much to everybody who was here helping install the tanks earlier this year.  Last I checked, this morning, it appears that the first flush is full and the water is going to the tanks now. Bring on the rain!