The proposed introduction of water charges [for mains water and sewage services] has prompted people to look at Rainwater Harvesting. It is clearly crazy that treated drinking water is used to flush toilets and water flowers etc. I have installed [??] a number of water butts and a 1000 litre tank to capture some of the rain that falls and to use the water , initially in the garden, but possible pumped into a tank in the attic to supply our toilets. I buy into the thinking that water is a scarce resource and every effort should be made to conserve what we have.
Our storage capacity is around 1800 litres and the tank and water butts, free barrels and piping cost somewhere near €250. The Irish Met Service publish a chart of the average annual rainfall for the country,
http://www.met.ie/climate/rainfall.asp, it is fascinating to realize that an average of 1 metre of rain falls on most parts of the country every year.
Commercial rainwater harvesting systems are expensive, typically €3K for a 3000 litre capacity system. These would not be viable unless water price per 1000 litres goes through the roof. Which is possible as the Europeans still effectively control our Government finances. Protect the Bond holders and all that shit.............
Anyone here doing something similar in the UK?
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
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Off grid practitioners use a small solar cell and attached pump to lift and transfer the water.
we have a series of butts attached to various out buildings, and a shallow well (which probably holds about 3 cubic meters and takes about a week to fill from empty, even in summer). The main issue we have is that half our land is on a slope with the house and well at the bottom of the slope and the main, non domestic, user of water is the poly tunnel, which is on the 1st flat bit of land nearest the house, but is still a good 100m from the house, so getting water up there is a bit of a task. I've built a couple of large sheds up there and this year put guttering and butts on them, plus additional storage, so should be able to store about 500 ltrs currently, will try and increase that if I see any water containers going cheap (sometimes you see them big IBC containers that have been used for food storage going cheap).
Still need to put a rain water system in place for the bog, will probably do a DIY job though, will be basic but effective, just a tank just above cistern level (the toilet here is on ground level so won't have to pump the water up) and a pipe through the wall into the cistern. We don't have space right outside the house for a proper storage system, so will have to make do with a series of butts and any IBCs I can get hold of. Won't look pretty, but it's mostly dead people who overlook us, and they rarely complain.
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it's one of them white plastic cubes, 1000 litres, usually with an iron cage around it. Often used to store food stuffs.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/ibc-container
a lot of farmers etc. round here use them. Occasionally our local agri merchant gets a load of second hand ones in.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
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Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
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@Drew_fx does it on everyone's post and in time it will endeer you to him.... it takes a while but it will happen :-D
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.