Rainwater Harvesting

Gothicfairy

deanos wrote: »

Yes you are correct , i forgot about the so low tarrifs

Just a side note : Not all water companies offer a " So low" tariff..

Some will make you pay standing charges no matter what

I am still not sure you will be able to collect enough rain water to deal with all your needs and relying on your neighbour would no seem like the best long term solution as water companies are now looking at enforcing meters where they can and you neighbour might end up on a meter if someone shops him for using twice the domestic amount ( there is a little used rule about "commercial enforced metering, and that can apply to bulk supplies> if his is seen as supplying more then one house you could argue bulk or joint supply and make it metered)

Believe me , people DO call up and complain about their neighbours or friends so it might be dodge ground.

Silverbull

Gothicfairy wrote: »

Just a side note : Not all water companies offer a " So low" tariff..

Some will make you pay standing charges no matter what

If so, Im happy to turn off my supply. The only question then is septic tank, or a big drain hole. Or what other option are there for waste going out?

Gothicfairy

Nothing I can think off..Septic tank is your best option but you will have to pay to have that emptied as well.

You could go down the compost toilet route and use the waste bath/ washing up water for the garden.
As long as the supply is disconnected they will not care to much about what goes into the system but have you thought about surface water drainage as if you don't have a soakaway you will have to pay that anyway and that is a yearly figure depending on the size of house (detached, semi , terraced)

Silverbull

Gothicfairy wrote: »

Nothing I can think off..Septic tank is your best option but you will have to pay to have that emptied as well.

You could go down the compost toilet route and use the waste bath/ washing up water for the garden.
As long as the supply is disconnected they will not care to much about what goes into the system but have you thought about surface water drainage as if you don't have a soakaway you will have to pay that anyway and that is a yearly figure depending on the size of house (detached, semi , terraced)

If we dig a big enough hole with a JCB there are ways of making it cope with large amounts of water if done correctly. You have to go down well bellow the clay layer then cover it all over with a strong top.

But I am thinking just keep the water metre turned on and use mains going out. We will use a small amount of mains water every year.

camaj

Cardew wrote: »

Firstly you only get charged for sewerage on the water you have supplied via the meter; thgey assume either 5% or 10% for evaporation, garden etc.

Just looking at our bill and our waste water charge is the same as our consumption charge.

Does anyone know if they include rain water going down our drains in that measurement? If so it'd make sense to ensure as little water as possible goes down the drain

Cardew

camaj wrote: »

Just looking at our bill and our waste water charge is the same as our consumption charge.

Does anyone know if they include rain water going down our drains in that measurement? If so it'd make sense to ensure as little water as possible goes down the drain

Firstly the companies charge in two different ways for sewerage.

To make the arithmetic easy, say the cost of sewerage is £1 per cubic meter and the evaporation/garden watering allowance is 10%.

If you use 200 Cubic litres of water:

Company A will show the cost of sewrage as 180 Cubic litres @ £1 = £180

Company B will show the cost of sewerage as 200 Cubic litres @90p = £180

You are obviously with company B as I am(Severn Trent)

They can't measure the amount of Surface water(rain from gutters, on driveways etc) that enter the sewer.

If that does happen, you are charged an annual flat rate dependant on your type of property(Severn Trent)

Or

A higher sewerage rate per cubic metre e.g. instead of £1 it goes up to £1.20.

Bear in mind that the 'default' position is that rain water does enter your sewer(Surface Water Drainage -SWD). You have to claim relief from that charge if your rainwater goes into a soakaway.

camaj

Ah right so they're just making an estimate. Makes you wonder why they don't just have one charge for water and sewage, that way you can see they're related. You're essentially being charged double

Cardew

camaj wrote: »

Ah right so they're just making an estimate. Makes you wonder why they don't just have one charge for water and sewage, that way you can see they're related. You're essentially being charged double

Not really!

Lots of people are not connected to a sewer; their sewerage goes to a septic tank so are just charged for water supply.

Others, particularly those on a water company's boundary, have their sewerage handled by another company.