Rooted & Resilient | by Marisa Herzer
Why Water Resilience Matters
Rooted & Resilient and Frontier West aim to increase knowledge and self-sufficiency while still understanding the larger systems around us. Rather than withdrawing from modern infrastructure, we aim to emphasize sustainable living practices, independence, practical education and designing resilient systems. That is why rainwater harvesting is an exciting topic to discuss at a time when access to safe, clean drinking water may feel less secure than it once did.
Most dependent households are a part of water systems that we rarely think about systematically. There is great value in understanding where water comes from and how it reaches your home. Water redundancy means creating backup or supplemental ways to access water so that if one source becomes unavailable, unreliable, or unsafe, another option exists. Reducing dependency on a primary water supply can make a huge difference in the safety and security of your family and the lives you care for on your property.
Water resilience starts with understanding the systems around us, participating in them more consciously, and learning where we can responsibly create another layer of security for ourselves.
Can You Legally Harvest Rainwater in Texas?
Yes! Rainwater harvesting is legal in Texas, and Texas law actively supports it in several ways. Since Texas is where our homestead resides, this article focuses on the capabilities within this state surrounding the harvesting of rainwater. This state does considerably more than tolerate the collection of rainwater as the Texas Water Development Board identifies several pieces of state law supporting it.
Before we go further, two terms are important to understand.
Potable water is water that is safe for human consumption and uses associated with consumption.
Nonpotable water is water that is not intended or approved for human consumption. Harvested rainwater used for purposes such as landscape irrigation may fall into this category.
Throughout this article, the distinction between these terms matters because the intended use of harvested rainwater affects the level of treatment, system design, and regulation that may apply.
- Did you know that Texas exempts qualifying rainwater-harvesting equipment and supplies from state sales tax? For more information, Texas Tax Code 151.355 has more information about this.
- Texas Property Code 202.007 limits the ability of property owners’ associations to prohibit rainwater harvesting. While associations can still regulate things such as the location, visibility, screening, type, materials, and appearances under certain circumstances, the law states a POA generally may not include or enforce a restrictive covenant prohibiting or restricting an owner from installing rain barrels or a rainwater harvesting system.
- Texas Health & Safety Code 341.042 implies that if someone harvests water for domestic use and the property is not connected to a public drinking-water system, the state’s public-water-system regulations generally do not apply to that person.
- The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Harvesting, Storing, and Treating Rainwater for Domestic Indoor Use document includes that there are not minimum treatment requirements when rainwater is used for drinking water for a single household or for nonpotable uses.
Legal permission and safe practice are not the same thing. That is why this article is so lengthy and provides many resources to ensure that rainwater harvesting practices are safe and informed.
Not Every Rainwater System Is Treated the Same
There are three distinctions to discuss when it comes to rainwater systems, and these can be important to note:
- Standalone Household Rainwater System
- Rainwater + Municipal or Public Water
- Public Water System Using Harvested Rainwater
When Rainwater and Public Water Meet
Texas Health & Safety Code 341.042 specifies a privately owned system larger than 500 gallons that has an auxiliary water supply must use a backflow-prevention assembly or air gap to physically separate the harvested-water from the auxiliary supply. For potable rainwater systems connected to public water, installation and maintenance also trigger plumbing-licensing requirements.
The installer must be appropriately licensed and hold the required Water Supply Protection Specialist endorsement. Written notice must also be provided when a public supply will serve as the auxiliary source. TCEQ rules further explain that the public supply used as a backup may connect to the storage tank, rather than be directly interconnected with the building’s rainwater plumbing.
- A standalone household rainwater system presents one regulatory situation.
- Rainwater + municipal/public water has different requirements because once harvested water interacts with a public water system, cross-contamination and backflow concerns become much more important.
- Public water systems using harvested rainwater are much more heavily regulated.
Once a rainwater system is connected in any way to a public water supply, protecting the public system becomes part of the design responsibility.
Primary Resources for Rainwater Harvesting
The most trusted practical sources to refer to are Texas A&M AgriLife as they provide extensive educational material for Texas interested in rainwater harvesting, and TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) which provides regulatory and drinking water guidance.
- Texas A&M AgriLife has an excellent rainwater program specifically existing to educate Texans about harvested rainwater as an alternate or supplemental supply as well as a means of reducing stormwater runoff.
- The Harvesting, Storing, and Treating Rainwater for Domestic Use guide was written by the TCEQ specifically for single-household potable systems.
There is More Than One Way to Harvest Rain
Most homeowners hear rainwater harvesting and likely picture gutters carrying water from a roof into a barrel or cistern. That is certainly rainwater harvesting but only represents one approach.
TCEQ regulatory guidance defines rainwater harvesting as the practice of collecting water that falls as rain before soaking into the ground becoming groundwater or run off into a watercourse that then becomes surface water.
This regulatory guidance also states that rainwater harvesting can be classified into two broad categories, land-based and roof-based.
Land-Based Rainwater Harvesting
Land-based rainwater harvesting captures or manages rainfall after it reaches the land, using the movement of runoff across a site to direct water towards areas where it can be retained, stored or beneficially used. TCEQ describes land-based harvesting as collecting rainwater after it has reached the ground, typically using runoff water from surfaces and directing it toward storage areas or impoundments before it reaches a watercourse, river or stream.
This is a common method of collection we employ with Frontier West where whole-site water design is considered. Our consulting work is concerned with how water behaves across the entire property, not only what happens at the downspout.
Questions that we ask when designing a property are:
- Where does water enter the property?
- Where does it naturally flow?
- Where does runoff concentrate?
- Where does water infiltrate well?
- Where does it cause erosion?
- Where could it be slowed, spread, retained or stored?
- How do slope, soils, vegetation and existing drainage influence those decisions?
- How could captured water support landscapes, agriculture or other appropriate uses?
Roof-Based Rainwater Harvesting
Roof-based harvesting captures precipitation from a building’s roof before that water reaches the ground. This article spends considerably more time on roof collection because it is particularly relevant to household water redundancy and potential potable use.
The TCEQ guidelines note that roof-based systems generally produce water with lower levels of chemical and biological contamination compared to land-based collection. This does not mean that roof-harvested water is automatically potable as appropriate treatment still matters when water will be consumed.
Thinking at Both the Building and Property Scale
Water harvesting can happen at the building scale, and the site scale.
The building scale captures water from a roof.
The site scale means understanding runoff, drainage, infiltration, storage, and movement across the land. These two systems can also work together.
It is critical to mention that larger impoundments, modifications to drainage, dams, diversions, waterways and other site-scale projects can raise additional engineering, property, environmental and water-rights questions. This is why having a trusted source for site-specific professional design like Frontier West can elevate your property.
Rainwater Is Not Automatically Drinking Water
Rain falling from the sky can pick up contaminants from the atmosphere and in the case of roof-based harvesting, the water then encounters these forms of contamination:
- Roofing materials
- Dust
- Pollen
- Leaves
- Insects
- Bird or animal waste
- Gutters
- Coatings
- Other environmental sources
TCEQ specifically notes that roof-harvested rainwater generally has lower chemical and biological contamination than some other forms of surface-water collection, but harvested rainwater still requires appropriate treatment when intended for potable use.
The objective of a rainwater harvesting system is not simply to collect water but to control contamination at every stage between the sky and the person using it.
From Roof to Storage: How the Collection System Works
In roof-based collection systems, the roof becomes the first component of the water system. In other words, the catchment surface is effectively the first component of the water system.
The Catchment Surface
The catchment surface will require these considerations:
- Roofing material
- Roof condition
- Overhanging trees
- Animal access
- Accumulated debris
- Chimneys or combustion residues
- Coatings, paints, sealants, or other materials that water may contact
Material compatibility requires more attention for potable water collection than collection for irrigation purposes.
Gutters and Conveyance
From the catchment surface, collected water must move toward storage through a system that can be inspected and cleaned. Conveyance itself is not a piece of equipment, but is a broader process used to transport collected water from the catchment area toward the tank or cistern. The gutters and downspouts are parts of the conveyance system. The process needs to accomplish:
- Collect the runoff.
- Gutters receive water from the catchment surface.
- Move the runoff.
- Downspouts and conveyance piping carry that water toward storage.
- Keep the pathway protected and serviceable.
- Screens, guards, debris exclusion devices, and accessible cleanouts help prevent material from entering or accumulating in the system and allow maintenance when it inevitably does.
Keeping contamination out is preferable to trying to remove all of it later.
First-flush Diversion
The beginning of a rain event often carries the greatest concentration of contaminants. As rain begins to fall, it washes accumulated dust, pollen, animal droppings, leaves, and other debris from the catchment surface.
A first-flush device diverts a portion of this initial runoff before the remaining water is directed into storage. This is a tangible example of designing contamination control into a rainwater harvesting system rather than relying exclusively on end-stage filtration.
The earlier that contamination can be managed, the less work the rest of the system has to do.
Storage is More Than Just a Tank
The cistern is what most people picture first when thinking of rainwater harvesting, but it is only one component of the process. Storage is not simply about choosing a tank large enough to hold the water you collect. The tank also needs to protect the stored water, manage what enters and leaves it, remain accessible for inspection and maintenance, and safely function within the property around it.
When planning storage, consider how the system will:
- Protect the stored water.
- Tank material and opacity affect the environment inside the cistern. Limiting light penetration can help discourage algae growth, making opacity an important consideration when selecting a storage tank.
- Lids, screened openings, and other protected penetrations help limit the entry of insects, animals, debris, and other contaminants.
- Mosquito exclusion is particularly important anywhere openings or access points could allow insects into the system.
- Manage what enters and accumulates.
- Even with upstream debris control and first-flush diversion, some sediment and material may eventually reach storage. Storage should account for the possibility of this material settling and accumulating over time.
- The tank should be designed with inspection, access, and eventual cleaning in mind.
- Manage overflow.
- Once the tank reaches capacity, additional rainfall needs somewhere to go. An overflow provides a controlled pathway for excess water to leave the storage system.
- Overflow should be intentionally routed so that excess water does not create erosion, drainage problems, foundation concerns, or unwanted pooling around the tank and nearby structures.
- Remain accessible and serviceable.
- Tank access and cleanout capability allow accumulated material to be inspected and removed, while screens, seals, and other components will require inspection and maintenance over the life of the system.
- A storage system should be planned with future maintenance in mind rather than assuming the tank can simply be installed and forgotten.
- Function safely on the property.
- Tank location, foundation and support, surrounding grade, drainage, access, and local freezing conditions should all be considered when determining where and how storage will be installed.
- These considerations become increasingly important as storage volume increases. A larger volume of stored water means greater weight, greater overflow potential, and greater consequences if the surrounding site is not prepared to accommodate it.
The Weight of Water: Importance of Siting and Structural Support
Water is heavy. One gallon of water weighs approximately 8.34 pounds, meaning a 2,500-gallon cistern can hold more than 20,000 pounds (over 10 tons) of water before accounting for the weight of the tank itself and associated equipment.
Once water is stored at this scale, deciding where to place a cistern becomes more than a matter of convenience. The tank, the ground supporting it, and the surrounding landscape need to function together.
Consider how storage affects:
- Foundation and soil support.
- A full cistern places a substantial load on the area beneath it. The tank needs appropriate support, and the conditions of the underlying soil matter when considering long-term stability.
- Grading and drainage.
- The surrounding grade should move water appropriately around the storage area. Poor drainage can contribute to saturation, erosion, settlement, or other conditions that may compromise the area supporting the tank.
- Erosion and overflow routing.
- A full cistern does not stop additional rainfall from arriving. Overflow needs an intentional destination that can safely receive and move excess water without creating erosion or drainage problems elsewhere on the property.
- Access and proximity to other structures.
- The location should account for installation, inspection, maintenance, and future access while also considering nearby buildings, foundations, utilities, and other infrastructure.
- Long-term stability.
- A storage location should work not only on the day the tank is installed, but as the system repeatedly fills, empties, experiences rainfall, and interacts with changing site conditions over time.
This is where rainwater harvesting begins to overlap with broader site planning. Tank capacity, structural support, soils, grading, drainage, overflow, access, and surrounding infrastructure are interconnected considerations. For larger or more complex systems, professional evaluation may be appropriate to ensure the storage system can safely function within the property as a whole.
These relationships between water, infrastructure, drainage, and land are part of the whole-property perspective Frontier West brings to rural site planning.
Intended Use Determines System Design
Before determining how harvested rainwater should be treated and distributed, consider how that water will be used. A system intended to supply landscape irrigation has different requirements and risks than one intended to provide water for drinking or household consumption.
The intended use influences the level of contamination control, treatment, disinfection, testing, maintenance, materials, plumbing, and regulatory requirements that may need to be incorporated into the system.
A helpful distinction is:
Nonpotable use → potentially simpler collection and treatment depending on the intended application.
Potable/human-consumption use → greater attention to contamination control, treatment, disinfection, testing, materials, maintenance, and applicable regulations.
For properties already served by a public water system, TCEQ encourages harvested rainwater to be used for nonpotable purposes. This can provide an accessible place to begin establishing water redundancy without taking on the additional responsibilities associated with treating harvested rainwater for human consumption.
Starting with Nonpotable Use
Rainwater harvesting for irrigation and other nonpotable applications can be considerably less complex than designing a whole-house potable water system. Depending on the application, harvested rainwater may be used for purposes such as:
- Garden irrigation
- Landscape watering
- Appropriate livestock uses
- Stormwater management
- Other suitable nonpotable applications
Even a relatively simple system should still be designed around its intended use. The amount of water needed, available catchment area, storage capacity, distribution method, water-quality considerations, and maintenance requirements all influence what an appropriate system looks like.
The important question more than, “Can I collect rainwater?”
It is, “What do I intend to do with the water I collect, and what responsibility comes with that use?”
When Harvested Rainwater Is Intended for Drinking
When harvested rainwater is intended for drinking or other potable household uses, water quality becomes a much greater design responsibility. A rainwater harvesting system can appear clean and well-designed while still containing contaminants that cannot be detected by sight, smell, or taste.
Potable use also extends beyond the water poured into a drinking glass. Water used for drinking, food preparation, handwashing, dishwashing, bathing, and other household applications where water may be ingested or come into contact with the body requires greater attention to water quality and applicable requirements.
Treatment should therefore be understood as a process rather than a single filter or piece of equipment. Depending on the system and intended use, that process may include:
- Sediment removal to remove suspended material.
- Fine filtration to remove progressively smaller particulate matter.
- Activated carbon or other specialized treatment to address particular compounds, tastes, odors, or chemicals when appropriate to the system.
- Disinfection to address microorganisms through an appropriately designed method such as ultraviolet treatment, chlorination, or another suitable approach.
- Water-quality testing to verify rather than assume that the treatment system is producing water appropriate for its intended use.
The exact treatment process should be designed around the source water, intended use, system configuration, applicable requirements, and water-quality goals. It is important not to assume that one treatment sequence is appropriate for every rainwater harvesting system.
Maintenance Is Part of the System
Installing a cistern does not automatically create water resilience. A system becomes resilient when the people relying on it understand how to operate, inspect, and maintain it.
Taking greater responsibility for your own water supply also means accepting greater responsibility for keeping that supply functional and, where applicable, safe. Depending on the system, that responsibility may include:
- Inspecting catchment surfaces, roofs, and gutters
- Cleaning debris screens and guards
- Servicing first-flush devices
- Replacing and maintaining filters
- Maintaining pumps and distribution equipment
- Inspecting storage tanks
- Controlling insects and other potential entry points
- Checking seals, lids, screens, and penetrations
- Maintaining disinfection equipment
- Monitoring UV lamps, chlorine systems, or other treatment components as applicable
- Periodically testing water quality when appropriate
- Documenting maintenance, testing, and component replacement
Maintenance should be considered during design rather than after the system is installed. Filters need to be accessible, tanks need to be inspectable, components need to be serviceable and treatment equipment eventually needs attention or replacement.
Independence does not eliminate responsibility. It transfers more of that responsibility to you.
Understanding and accepting that responsibility is part of becoming more capable of managing your own water resources.
Where Texans Can Find the Actual Rules
Part of becoming more capable is knowing where to find reliable information for yourself. Rainwater harvesting requirements can vary according to intended use, plumbing configuration, connection to other water supplies, location, and other circumstances. Regulations and guidance can also change over time.
Rather than relying solely on secondhand information, Texas property owners should become familiar with the agencies, statutes, and local authorities relevant to the systems they intend to build.
- Texas Legislature / Texas Constitution and Statutes
- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)
- For drinking-water rules, cross-connection requirements, public-water-system requirements, and rainwater-treatment guidance.
- Texas Water Development Board (TWDB)
- For statewide rainwater-harvesting information, maps, policy information, FAQs, and links to Texas laws affecting harvesting.
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Rainwater Harvesting
- For practical homeowner education, publications, demonstrations, and Texas-specific rainwater information.
- Relevant municipal/county permitting authority and public water provider
- Particularly when plumbing, potable use, building permits, auxiliary municipal water, or cross-connections are involved.
- Property owners’ association documents, where applicable
- Texas protects the ability to harvest rainwater but still allows certain aesthetic/location regulations.
What If You Live Outside Texas?
If you live outside of Texas, the same principles of thoughtful rainwater planning still apply, but the laws, codes, permitting requirements, and agencies responsible for them may be different. Becoming knowledgeable about your own water resources means understanding the requirements that apply where you live.
Begin by finding answers to questions such as:
- Is rainwater harvesting legal in my state?
- Are there state or local incentives, restrictions, or special requirements?
- Are potable and nonpotable rainwater systems treated differently?
- What requirements apply if harvested rainwater connects with or is supplemented by a public water supply?
- Are cross-connection or backflow-prevention measures required?
- Does my county or municipality require plumbing, building, or other permits?
- Are there local water-quality or testing requirements for potable use?
- Which state or local agency regulates drinking water?
- Which plumbing and building codes apply?
- Are there property-level restrictions or association requirements that may affect where or how a system can be installed?
Whenever possible, trace the information you find back to the state agency, statute, code, local authority, or water provider responsible for it. Requirements can change, and what applies to one property may not necessarily apply to another.
If you would like help understanding your property, exploring rainwater harvesting as part of a larger water strategy, or identifying the questions and requirements that need further investigation, Frontier West can help guide that process.
We want to help you understand your resources and options so you can make informed decisions about the systems that support your property.
Know Your Water
Rooted & Resilient advocates for participation in the systems that shape our daily lives rather than passive consumption of them. Water is one of the most important places to begin.
Know your water:
- Where does it originate?
- Who manages it?
- How does it reach your home?
- What protects its quality?
- What happens when that system is interrupted?
- What alternative water resources exist on your property?
- What would be required to use those alternatives safely and responsibly?
- How much responsibility are you prepared to take for managing them?
Knowing the answers does not mean you need to disconnect from every system you currently depend upon but to understand those systems well enough to make informed decisions about your own resilience.
Rainwater harvesting is more than just a tank, a gutter, or a piece of conservation equipment but presents as an opportunity to understand one of the fundamental resources that keeps a household functioning and to participate more intentionally in how that resource is collected, protected, used, and maintained.
Capability begins with understanding.
The more we understand the systems that sustain us, the better prepared we become to care for them, build redundancy where it makes sense, and take greater responsibility for the resources available to us.
That knowledge may help make us independent, but more importantly makes us capable participants in our homes, our land, and the communities around us.
From the Desk of Marisa, The Agriculturist
Marisa holds a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science Production and a Master of Science in Agricultural and Consumer Resources from Tarleton State University.
Her journey into agriculture began with horses, but it grew into a much larger curiosity about the systems that sustain life. Studying physiology, nutrition, behavior, land, and agricultural production revealed how deeply connected those systems are, and how much becomes possible when we understand how to work with them.
Today, her work centers on a simple belief that knowledge should leave people more capable.
Through Rooted & Resilient and Frontier West, Marisa explores how agriculture, regenerative design, tranditional knowledge, and modern science can help people understand the resources that sustain their lives. Food. Water. Land. Animals. Plants. Community.
Reslience is not about needing no one, but about developing the knowledge and confidence to provide where we can, contribute where we are able, and build stronger relationships of interdependence with the people and places around us. When people understand what they are capable of, they can begin building something larger than self-sufficiency. They can help make others capable, too.
The question behind her work continues to evolve:
How can what we learn today make someone more capable tomorrow?
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