[I see my hands]

I’m moving off grid and plan on rain harvesting.. in the Sonoran Desert! (Even a well with a hand pump is not reliable for life and death purposes), It makes so much sense I can’t figure why it isn’t and hasn’t been the predominant means of providing water worldwide.

[Nathan Zachary]

"It makes so much sense I can’t figure why it isn’t and hasn’t been the predominant means of providing water worldwide."

You'll find out why real fast. Mother nature will figure it out for you.

[Leonard210]

Beautiful photo. Are you talking about simply storing rain during the winter? Wouldn’t that entail rather large storage containers?

[Nathan Zachary]

The suns UV rays will destroy the poly sheets in a short time, the atmospheric dust settling on the poly will block the sunlight and kill the plants which are very sensitive to variations of sunlight. In the desert, rare but sudden and heavy rainfalls will also destroy the system.

It's a nifty method for gathering some drinking water in a survival situation, if you happen to have a sheet of poly, but for a permanent long term water supply, forget it.

Dig that well, and/or store rain and seasonal stream water when you can. Those are still the best tried and true methods for what you are doing.