The Rainwater Harvesting Tool

Sustainable water use 

Resilient   businesses

Download the open source Rainwater Harvesting Tool and Guidance manual free of charge to find out how much rainfall you could potentially harvest from your polytunnels.

See how much water you could save by using or increasing rainwater harvesting on your farm.

Discover the most effective rainwater harvesting system for specific farm conditions and location.

Resilience through Rainwater Harvesting

  • Greater water self-sufficiency – securing a water supply for your irrigation needs that is water abstraction licence exempt.
  • Reduced costs – less reliance on more expensive sources of water.
  • Reduced runoff – results in less soil erosion and surface water on site, cutting the effect on areas downstream.

Download the Rainwater Harvesting Tool and Guidance Manual here
  • The Rainwater Harvesting Tool is simple to use, requiring only a very limited set of farm level input data.
  • It is a Microsoft Excel tool that helps soft fruit growers and farm business advisors evaluate the hydrological performance and water storage effectiveness of rainwater harvesting systems and support decision-making regarding viability for protected crops.
  • There is also a downloadable Guidance Manual.
Access Government Guidance on Rainwater Harvesting

Issued through the Environment Agency, the Government’s Regulatory Position Statement on Rainwater Harvesting contains information on:

  • The Rainwater Harvesting Tool was designed and developed for Kent County Council by researchers at Cranfield University with funding from the EU Interreg 2 Seas Programme.  
  • Cranfield University also worked with growers and key stakeholders in Kent. 
  • The tool was presented during the Zoom workshop ‘Tackling Floods and Droughts for Polytunnel Fruit Production’ on 28th January 2021.