Method and Apparatus for Reducing Urban Runoff Through Intelligent Automated Rainwater Collection

摘要

The present invention relates to the collection of water and more specifically to the collection of rainwater. A challenge in rainwater collection is to minimize manual effort and operator inconvenience. Existing methods in the art do not gracefully handle situations in which insufficient rainwater is collected. Existing methods also require manual retrieval of collected rainwater. Accordingly, we present novel methods, components, and systems for automatically and intelligently collecting and using rainwater. More specifically, we describe methods, components, and systems for integrating rainwater collection systems with main line water sources and drip systems using a programmable controller that can direct water flow from the appropriate source using programmable logic that takes inputs from a plurality of sources, possibly comprising, but not limited to, the level of collected water and the parameters of the irrigation controller. The disclosed invention provides a significant improvement with regard to efficiency and ease of use compared to prior art.