Rainwater Harvesting Systems for High Tunnels
Eastern Kansas
Three specialty crop farms in eastern Kansas constructed rainwater harvesting systems for high tunnels to help respond to increasingly erratic rainfall and temperature patterns. The project documented the materials needed, the system costs, how much water can be saved, and lessons learned for sharing.
High tunnels require irrigation within them, and the rain that falls on the roof can be a source for the water if it can be collected in a cost-effective manner and the water available during wet seasons can be stored for dry periods. To plan this project, 50 years of local weather data were reviewed. The historical temperatures and rainfall in Kansas City, MO show how weather patterns are changing and making conditions more challenging for growers.
Since the 1970s, in the Kansas City area, fall and winter have become much warmer and fall has become much drier. In 2025, the KC Farm School recorded only 2.2 inches of rain from August through October.
These patterns are the basis for planning the rainwater harvesting systems. The goal is to catch and store extra rainwater through early summer to store for use during the dry fall period. A spreadsheet was developed to size the water storage tank or pond from the monthly rainfall and the water used for irrigation.
See “Contact for More Information” at the end of this report to request a copy of the spreadsheet.
The systems at KC Farm School and Herdsman House Farm included the following:
The tunnel at Herdsman House farm is 30 ft x 72 ft, with 5 ft high wood hips and roll up sides. It uses 6 IBC totes for water storage (1,650 gal).
The tunnel at KC Farm School is 20 ft x 72 ft, with 5 ft high steel hips and drop-down sides. It uses 4 IBC totes for water storage (1,100 gal).
Moose Paw Farm has a 30 ft x 72 ft tunnel with 6 ft high wood hips and roll-up sides. It uses a 35,000-gal pond with an EDPM liner for water storage and a 2” gas trash pump.
The annual amount of irrigation water that can be provided from rainwater at each farm is estimated at: 38,000 gal for Moose Paw, 29,000 gal for Herdsman House and 18,000 gal for KC Farm School.
Those amounts are a function of the size of each storage system, the size of the high tunnel, and how much irrigation water is used each year. Moose Paw Farm with the pond (instead of IBC totes) can store much more water during rainy months.
Material costs (2025) for each farm are below. These do not include labor or equipment rental.
The major costs at Herdsman House and KC Farm School were the solar panels, batteries, and pumps. Moose Paw Farm had an existing pump so it did not need those components. The major cost at Moose Paw Farm was the pond liner.
Are you curious about collecting rainwater from your high tunnel? You can test out the Rainwater Harvesting Calculator for a High Tunnel by using this spreadsheet and accompanying user guide.
Alicia Ellingsworth, KC Farm School at Gibbs Road, Kansas City, KS, alicia@kcfarmschool.org
This project was funded by a regional Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant. For more information about SARE grant opportunities across the country, please visit https://www.sare.org/grants/.
Thank you to David Dods for preparing this case study.
©2026 - National Drought Mitigation Center
