JFC is this year launching its new water harvesting system at the Ploughing Championships.

The water storage pipes are designed to be placed underground beside the slatted tank and then surrounded by stone to backfill the remainder of the tank.

As the site is already cleared out when constructing the slatted tank, very little additional work is required to make the site suitable for the water-harvesting pipe system.

The system will collect water from the roof of the shed and store it underground in the pipes.

One system has already been installed on a farm which has the capacity for 20,000 litres which would probably be required by a dairy farmer, whereas smaller farmers could probably get away with less water storage capacity.

The tank is also connected to the mains water supply so if water levels run too low the tank will automatically fill from the mains water supply, ensuring a continuous water supply.

A vertical pipe will come up from the horizontal pipes which allows water to flow in through filters and it is where the submersible pump can be placed.

Pipes with a total of 20,000 litres of storage capacity along with the vertical pipe cost approximately €4,995 including VAT.

Diameter

A length of the pipe itself is 1.05m in diameter by 5m in length and has the possibility of storing 5,200 litres.

A series of these pipes can be connected to increase capacity. A submersible pump can be placed in the tank to pump the water back up to the shed. While the pipes are currently not grant approved, JFC is in the process of seeking grant approval.