Rainwater tank

Some of the rainwater tanks around CERES Community Environment Park, in Melbourne, Australia

A rainwater tank (sometimes called a rain barrel in North America in reference to smaller tanks, or a water butt in the UK) is a water tank used to collect and store rain water runoff, typically from rooftops via pipes. Rainwater tanks are devices for collecting and maintaining harvested rain. A rainwater catchment or collection (also known as "rainwater harvesting") system can yield 1,000 litres (260 US gal) of water from 1 cm (0.4 in) of rain on a 100 m² (1,100 sq ft) roof.

Rainwater tanks are installed to make use of rain water for later use, reduce mains water use for economic or environmental reasons, and aid self-sufficiency. Stored water may be used for watering gardens, agriculture, flushing toilets, in washing machines, washing cars, and also for drinking, especially when other water supplies are unavailable, expensive, or of poor quality, and when adequate care is taken that the water is not contaminated and is adequately filtered.

Underground rainwater tanks can also be used for retention of stormwater for release at a later time and offer a variety of benefits. In arid climates, rain barrels are often used to store water during the rainy season for use during dryer periods.

Rainwater tanks may have a high (perceived) initial cost. However, many homes use small scale rain barrels to harvest minute quantities of water for landscaping/gardening applications rather than as a potable water surrogate. These small rain barrels, often recycled from food storage and transport barrels or, in some cases, whiskey and wine aging barrels, are often inexpensive. There are also many low cost designs that use locally available materials and village level technologies for applications in developing countries where there are limited alternatives for potable drinking water.^[1] While most are properly engineered to screen out mosquitoes, the lack of proper filtering or closed loop systems may create breeding grounds for larvae. With tanks used for drinking water, the user runs a health risk if maintenance is not carried out.^[2]