“Cecilia drew the roof, the tank and the orchard line on one sheet before we poured the pad. The inspector read it without a single question.”
Patrick K.Owner-builder, Carson
Taos, New Mexico
Your roof is the first pipe in the system
Candelaria Rain & Water designs and installs rain catchment, greywater and storage tanks, with the treatment between them, for homes, off-grid builds and gardens in Taos County.
- Licensed and insured
- Written estimate before work
- Se habla español
How a system works
Roof to tap, in four steps
Follow one drop through the system we draw for you: where it comes from, where it waits, what is done to it and where it goes next.
Where it comes from
Your roof and its canales or gutters. We measure the catch area and lead the water to one place, past a screen and a first-flush diverter.
Roof area measured on site
Screen and first flush
What is stored
A tank sized to your roof and your use, buried below the frost line or insulated above ground, with an overflow that waters a tree instead of the foundation.
Opaque, screened, vented
Overflow to the landscape
What is treated
Only the water for a tap you choose. A lab test comes first, and the filters, and a UV lamp where the result calls for one, follow it. You keep the report.
Lab test before the design
Filters sized to the flow
What is reused
Shower, sink and laundry water goes below mulch to trees and shrubs, and the tank feeds a hose bib for the garden.
Below mulch, never on the surface
Hose bib off the tank
The arithmetic
An inch of rain on 1,000 square feet is about 600 gallons
That is a rule of thumb, before the gutters, the first flush and the wind take their share.
Taos sees about a foot of precipitation in a year, and much of it arrives in a few July and August storms. A tank only helps if it is big enough to hold those storms, and a roof only helps if it can send them to the tank. So we measure the roof, then size the tank to the rain you get and the water you use.
What we measure
Roof area and material
Where the canales or gutters drain
How many people, how much garden
The months you need the water most
What we build
Three systems that can stand alone or work together
Rain catchment and storage
Gutters or canales, a first-flush diverter and a buried or insulated tank, with an overflow that has somewhere to go.
About rain catchmentGreywater to the landscape
Laundry, shower and bathroom-sink water, led below mulch to the trees and shrubs that can use it.
About greywaterTreatment and testing
A lab test first, then filters sized to the flow and a UV lamp where the result calls for one.
About treatment
A year of water
What the high desert asks of a system
Spring: dry and windy
Clear the gutters and screens, check the first-flush diverter and open the lines you drained in fall.
Summer: the monsoon
From July through September a few storms fill the tank. The overflow earns its keep.
Fall: put it to bed
Drain or wrap the exposed lines, and use the tank for the last watering before the first hard freeze.
Winter: snow and slow melt
A buried tank stays liquid. Snow off a metal roof can be caught, and it is slow.
Sample reviews
What the work looks like afterward
“Alfredo's crew set the tank, ran the line to the apple trees and left the ground raked. The maintenance sheet is taped inside the pump house.”
Josefina V.Homeowner, Ranchos de Taos
“I send clients here for the water side of a planting plan. The overflow lands where my drawing says it will.”
Jay B.Landscape designer, Dixon
Sample reviews.
Five people
The people who draw it and dig it
A design lead, an installer crew of three and a coordinator who keeps the permits moving. Cecilia, Alfredo and Anahi speak Spanish.
Cecilia Candelaria
Owner and design lead
Draws every system herself: roof, canales, tank, filters and where the overflow goes. Walks the site before she draws.
Alfredo Medina
Installer crew lead
Sets tanks, trenches lines below the frost line and runs the flush and the leak check before the crew leaves.
Lalo Vigil
Installer
Digs the trench, sets the pad and the tank and plumbs the overflow to the tree or the swale you chose.
Anahi Galvan
Project coordinator and permits
Schedules the site visit, prepares the permit paperwork for you to sign and sends the lab sample off.
Where we work
Taos County and the high road beyond
Tank pads, trenches and filter cabinets all start with a truck on a dirt road. These are the places we drive to from the shop on Cruz Alta Road.
Taos County
- Taos
- Ranchos de Taos
- Arroyo Seco
- Arroyo Hondo
- El Prado
- Talpa
- Llano Quemado
- Cerro
- Questa
- Peñasco
- Carson
Rio Arriba County
- Dixon
- Embudo
Colfax County
- Angel Fire
- Eagle Nest
We don't work south of Española, in Santa Fe or Albuquerque, or north of the Colorado line.
ZIP codes: 87571, 87557, 87514, 87513, 87529, 87556, 87553, 87527, 87531, 87710, 87718
Questions
Questions we hear before the first visit
Is it legal to collect rain in New Mexico?
Yes. Collecting rain from your roof is allowed in New Mexico. The rules for how it is plumbed, and for any use indoors, differ by county and by use, so we tell you which apply to your place before we draw anything.
How big a tank do I need?
That depends on your roof area, the rain you actually get and the water you will actually use. We size it from those three, not from a catalog. A bigger tank only helps if the roof can fill it.
Can I drink rainwater from the tank?
Some households do, but we don't call any water safe to drink. It depends on your roof, your tank and a lab test, and your county health office has the final say. We install the treatment a result calls for and hand you the lab report.
Will the tank freeze in winter?
A tank buried below the frost line stays liquid. Above ground, we insulate the tank and wrap or drain the lines that can freeze. We choose between them on your site, your budget and how you use the water in January.
Do I need a permit?
Often yes, and it depends on what you are building. Anahi tells you which permits apply, prepares the paperwork and brings it to you to sign. We schedule inspections as part of the job.
Who on the crew speaks Spanish?
Cecilia, Alfredo and Anahi do. Tell us when you call and we send one of them to the site visit.
Start with a site visit
Tell us about the place
Where it is, what the roof is made of and what you want the water to do. Anahi replies on the next working day.
Phone(575) 555-0100
Texts answered on working days(575) 555-0100
Hours
- Monday – FridayToday
- 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
- SaturdayToday
- By appointment
- SundayToday
- Closed