Using rainwater to flush toilets.

[Deleted User]

Someone told me it's illegal to rig up water-butts to flush household toilets with.

Is it?

If not - how can it be done? What would I need (other than a good supply of of rainwater...)

ariba10

I do not see why it should be.

As to what you will need. I would think a large storage tank above the height of the toilets you wish to service and a method of getting the water to it.

If you have to power a pump to get the water to it you would defeat the object of saying money. ( That is if saving money was the object of the exercise.)

dogran_2

These people http://www.rainbowtradingpost.co.uk/guides1.html have a guide on how to setup your own system £3.01 (the guide that is, not the system!). I got a copy of the guide last year & its firly straight forward. Basically the water is collected in a waterbutt outside, pumped to a smaller tank in the loft (backed up by mains water), which then fills the toilet cisterns. I'm planning to install it sometime, its just a matter of finding somewhere to put the waterbutt, get a solar powered pump etc...
If you need a large capacity tank for outside, these ppl http://etruk.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=33 have some 1000litre tanks for £35, although I have seen them on ebay as well. I'm not sure what was in them before, so unsure about using it to water the garden, but flushing the toilet should be fine.

cazrobinson

If you don't want to do any plumbing, just rig a pulley out side your toilet window and attach the biggest squash bottle you can find to it.

Fill water from rain-filled water butts and then, pulley it up to the window and 'flush' it away.

Strangely, my gran won't use the toilet flush to get rid of waste in her loo (odd!) but uses an old fashioned water jug (one that usually goes with old fashioned potties) to collect the water and fush away.

The only thing is that if you aim is to come off the national water grid, you need to prove that your waste water doesn't enter the water companies drains. When you 'pay for water' what your mainly paying for is sewerage to be taken away.

hope that helps,
cas

[Deleted User]

cazrobinson wrote:

The only thing is that if you aim is to come off the national water grid, you need to prove that your waste water doesn't enter the water companies drains. When you 'pay for water' what your mainly paying for is sewerage to be taken away.

hope that helps,
cas

This might be why I was told it was illegal. I thought it was a wind-up at first. I will ring the water company and find out.

I was not really thinking of not paying for the sewerage side of things - rather that I would be paying less on my water bill in terms of water supply - and that I'd be helping towards conserving water supplies generally.

I'm already on a meter (by choice) and would have thought that using rainwater to flush toilets (when available) would be the way forward for the future.

Seakay

A few ideas on this site:
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/waterres/286587/511050/?lang=_e

Ken68

The advantage of using buckets and small outside rain tanks, as I do, is that you can keep on eye on the buildup of dirt etc. In a tank in the loft or underground, no control.
And from experience the less pipes and less containers, the better. My annual spend on water is £16, so it can be done, tho not for everyone.

System

On the other hand, I used to email an old man in the states who lived in the back of beyond in a mobile home. He had a urostomy bag and at night he connected it up to a lengthy flexible pipe which he pushed through a hole in the van. It in turn extended a few feet from his home and he allowed the waste to drain under a tree.

It's quite amusing really I think. The guy is now dead but the tree lives on.

stilernin

Living by - "if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down" ...... I have often wondered how much water could be saved if everyone in the country refrained from flushing just once a day.

60m people, (I think), = 60m 'flushes' of water....... quite a lot methinks.

ailuro2

storing greywater (old bathwater etc.) and rainwater for use inside has implications for legionnaire's disease etc, I think this is where your idea it is illegal comes from.

Bella56

We live in a flat but still save water by filling up 2 big, lidded buckets from the used bathwater (which seems clean enough but probably wouldn't work for people with messier jobs, or gardeners!) then use this water to flush the toilet, so 2-3 free flushes a day. It may not seem like alot but we were originally on £24 direct debit/month and now this has gone down to £11/month (although we are also using shorter washing cycles).

I've put one of those cistern bleach tablets in the back of the toilet which will hopefully kill any germs in the bathwater and keep it a bit fresher; you could also add a tiny bit of cleaner to the buckets although using the water the same day is probably safe enough?