The first step in storm water storage is installation of the rainwater tank, which stores water for use in the garden among other uses. However, many times there is a lot of water landing on the driveway and the ground and which ends up in the storm water drain. It would be a great idea to capture as much storm water as one can possibly, since it will not only benefit the garden but also reduce the amount of pollution and rubbish that normally goes into the drainage system and waterways.

You would need to look at your garden more closely to get the idea of where the puddles form and where the water flows across the surface. On getting a firm picture of where the water goes, the next thing would be to devise a plan to capture and save storm rain water in tanks .

You may consider infiltration tanks if you are on a good budget or even consider getting some underground tanks, which you can use to capture the storm water. These tanks are normally made on the site to hold storm water and allow infiltration of some of the water from above and through the ground. Storm water pipes and surface drains also help in directing the water into tanks, which you can use for irrigation and or other household activities like flushing the toilet if the water is clean enough.

The tanks usually have a filter, which cleans out sediment leaves and other kind of debris, preventing it from entering the tank. You can get initial infiltration through landscaping of rain gardens swales or using reed bed filters. When assessing whether to install a storage tank for storm water, you will need to consider how much sediment and contaminants you can prevent, for instance, motor oil from the driveway, fertilizers, sediment and pet fecal matter. To get high quality storm water you must prevent potential pollution.

You may also need to consider situations where the storm water tanks are full and you still have the water running. The best way to control the water at this point is to have permeable or porous paving, which will allow the over flow to seep through into the ground. This will also allow other plants around the paving to benefit from the storm water.