The water that is pumped out by a sump pump, except in fooding conditions has most likely been filtered by the soil surrounding the structure. Slow collection is going to be the most filtered but it s/could be tested since the soil itself could be contaminated by pesticides, herbicides or naturally occuring polultants. There are usually test facilities listed in the yellow pages but if you can't locate it there try local well drilling companies or the DNR for a testing company. They will tell you how to get the sample. Rain gardens are coming into their own. For those who don't know what they are, they are swales or dips in the landscape often planted with native plants that are designed to slow and redirect runoff to avoid loss of the rainwater or to prevent erosion. Our Master Gardener gardens will likely have one next year for demonstration. I had hoped to be in that group but it looks like I will be assigned to design a Living Wall. I really like these kinds of projects. The greenroof I designed is well established and now attracts lots of attention on the garden walks. I believe there is a forum here on Bog gardening. I would go find a link but it seems that lately when I do that my unsubmitted message goes bye-bye. There are several ardent bog gardeners who went to another location but there are some remaining who post there. Several regulars on the Ponds and Aquatic Plants forum use bogs or vegetative filtration. One caviat I remember from that forum is that fresh roof runoff is not good for certain bog plants but please do not expect any advice from me on this subject. The anesthesia I was given for back surgery seems to have eliminated a few areas of interest and I need to start that research again. It is very annoying to be able to visualize something but be unable to express it. Sandy

Catkim, this will be our 6th water feature on our property, so I know about the wildlife attraction for sure. In fact, our very large fountain that sits in a small pool got toppled a couple of years ago. The only animal that could have done that was a very large racoon. Mind you, this fountain stands about 8' tall. The top 3 tiers were toppled over one morning. Nothing else would have had the dexterity to climb a slippery, wet, HUGE fountain. Not sure what attracted him to the top of the fountain, and why he didn't just stay in the large pool the fountain sits in. I did find a solar pump on Overstock.com. Unfortunately, the kit came with a different battery than described, plus, the battery is not holding a charge despite having the panel in full sun for many days. Overstock is sending me a new kit, and states that the correct battery is in that kit, so hoping it will work. The pump is just barely strong enough to make the water gurgle over the top of the pump. We have the pump sitting in the fountain basin below the pot, and we have it set to 1/2 rate, so we can boost the pump and that should increase the flow rate. But, we were trying to conserve energy, so I'm hoping with the new kit, the new battery will work better. We might also try to use the new solar panel, too. Not sure what isn't working - the panel or the battery - but we'll try swapping one one, then the other, and see if we can make it work. Patty S.

You want a quality magnetic drive pump like Pondmaster or Supreme. Not a el cheapo Little Giant or Beckett. They wear out fast. Mag drives use less electricity and are more reliable.

hi, my grandfather was ingenius man when it came to rigging things up. my grandparents lived in the high mountains of oregon where the rain falls practically everyday. they didnt have running water so my granfather used the gutters of the house and a few odds and ends to set up plumbing. he put palm size gravel all along inside the gutter to prevent large debris from going down the spouts, the rocks were level with the gutter rim so all he had to do was run a broom over it when the leaves built up. he capped off the gutter spouts with mesh and filled them to the top with alternating layers of sand , fish tank size gravel, and some sort of charcol/carbon. i dont remember exactly what that stuff was. i also remember him putting a large handfull of cleaned sheeps wool before the sand to keep it in place. the bottom of the spout was at about 4ft off the ground and flowed into a half barrel. there were holes drilled into the mid-level of the barrel that hoses led off from. the backside of the house with a spout on each corner was uphill from the front of the house. so it was a simple matter of gravity to get the water into the house. one of the hoses led to a white semitransparent 50gallon plastic drum that sat in a small clearing to collect sunlight during the day. that heated the icey water enough to bathe, even if it was 20 degrees outside. the water by evening would be almost 76 degrees on a good sunny day. he also set up a similar sytem for the pigs. he used 5 umbrellas in a sort of mobile to catch water, they were all angled so the water went to a hole cut in the bottom. this drianed into an upside down milk can with its bottom cut off. it was filled with stones and wool and sand and carbon and had a mess screen on top to kep out large debris. the other end of the jug was sitting in a wood frame suspenped above a long water trough.the only part of the trough that was outside of the pig house was covered by a frame so it worked really well to keep the water clean. even for being in a pig house it was clean enough to support a population of minnow bait fish. as far as the plants go im sure you could ommit the filled drain and have the spout feed into some of the long planter boxes. cut a 4 inch pvc pipe in half leghtwise to form 2 long troughs and hang the planters with one avove them and one below. you can line the bottoma of the planters with materials like sand, gravel and cotton gauze or aquarium filter pads. this will trap all of the small bdebris and create a biological filter. its a mini ecosystem of microbes. planters should be lined in layers from the bottom: 1 cotton about 1 inch thick(will be compressed) 2 clean sand (aquarium grade is chemical and pollutant free) 3 pea size gravel 1/2 ich thick -unpainted rough surfaces 4 dirt and plants.- i prefer coconut fiber coconut fiber has less sedimentary debris after water runs thru it a couple times and doesnt erode as fast. i would think crushed pumace would be a suitable substitute for the sand and gravel, as well as any other highly porous material. you want to make homes for all the micro-organisms to create the filter. the porous material also traps small debris and the cotton or aquarium filter pads will catch small sediment and plant material that the rest missed. it will also create a large base for the microbes. if you want acces to the cotton make a fine mesh basket that will fit in the planter on top of the cotton, place the other layers inside the basket and when its time to change the cotton simply lift the basket out of the planter. however, a good setup will never need to be cleaned. you can put as many planters in a row as you can hang from the eaves of the house this way. the pvc 1 will water the planters. give it a very slight tilt so the water will go all the way to the end.drill a small hole every 2 inches or so for the water to drain into the planters the planters will then drip into the other half of the pvc which will not have holes. it will flow directly to the collection container. ie pond, bucket, barrel, fountain. you can also line the pvc 2 with plants and gravel like a long planter for added filtration. i have many more ideas about how to collect and filter water. i will post again another time:) wendy