There aren’t a lot of U.S. homes with a 10,000 gallon water tank on the lawn. But some homeowners, such as those in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, wouldn’t be able to live in their chosen location if they didn’t have a massive tank to collect and store their family’s entire supply of water.

“The average American is lucky to enjoy an unlimited supply of clean water and at a very low price,” said Steven Sweeney, president of Rain Harvesting Supplies, Inc., an online seller of water tanks and rain harvesting components to professional installers and DIY homeowners.

“In the Hill Country of Central Texas, water is at a premium,” he said. “Most city water districts don’t serve rural areas. If you dig an underground well, you’ll spend a considerable amount of money and probably need several treatment systems to ensure that the water is drinkable quality. So Hill Country homeowners collect rain off their roofs and store it in large tanks as their sole water supply. A 10,000 gallon water tank is probably the smallest size you see, and some tanks hold 30,000 gallons or more.”

Although estimates vary, the average American uses between 80 and 100 gallons of water every day. The largest consumer of household water is the toilet, which guzzles between 1.6 and 4 gallons per flush, based on the toilet’s age. (Newer toilets use less.) Rainwater can be used for household needs, such as flushing toilets, and even converted to pure, drinking water, a procedure that costs a few hundred dollars per year.

“You don’t want to drink rain water straight off a roof,” Sweeney said. “But running it through a carbon filter kills any bacteria that may be in it. As long as the system is well designed and constructed, the water in a quality tank can be stored indefinitely and still retain its high quality.”

A one-inch rain falling on a 1,000-square-foot roof will produce about 600 gallons of water that can be stored and used when required. “A water-conscious family of four can get by on about 100,000 gallons of water per year,” he added.

A 10,000 gallon water tank - or one with greater capacity - offers additional options to rural homeowners, such as storing large quantities of processed water, gray water or water for agricultural and livestock use. Above-ground metal or poly tanks are ideal as rain storage containers. They’re easier to maintain than an underground tank, which can be challenging to monitor, repair or remove.

“Business owners, who have a warehouse or office with large roof surface, can install a 10,000 gallon water tank and easily collect rain for use in their operations,” said Sweeney. “Examples are concrete companies that need water to make concrete, companies that have a fleet of cars or trucks that must be washed regularly or a business campus that has large grounds to maintain. Considering the major corporate campuses I see in metropolitan cities, I can’t imagine all of them aren’t harvesting rainwater for their landscaping. It is so easy to connect a 10,000 gallon water tank to a rain collection system and attach it to an underground irrigation system. The company would conserve water and save a lot money over the long haul.”