Rainwater harvesting + recycling?

anon_ymous

I came across this

https://smartwatermagazine.com/blogs/graham-mann/new-buildings-turkey-feature-rainwater-harvesting-systems

And I was wondering if anyone in the UK has done similar? That appears to be forced on new builds in Turkey but over here it's obviously still voluntary. It'd be nice to not have to use fresh water for showering, the toilet, in the washing machine, hosepipes and the dishwasher 

I see that this company :

https://www.rainwaterharvesting.co.uk/

Appears to help with the recycling of non potable water 

I don't expect to save money this way too, but it would be good to seriously save water especially when the idea is to save non potable water for reuse within the house + for your car

EricMears

RWH was designed into our (then) newbuild 25 years ago.

We only use harvested rainwater for WC flushing so it doesn't need any treatment at all.  It's stored in 4 x 1 tonne IBCs in our basement then pumped (usually daily) to a header tank in attic whence it feeds the WC cisterns.  Pumping costs are covered by solar power for summer months and are at offpeak rates during winter.

Primary reason was that I think it's pretty silly to buy water that's been treated to potable standard then throw a third of it away.  But don't overlook the fact that if you're on metered water (as all newbuilds have to be) you immediately save a third of the cost. Also,  if you ever lose the mains water (our supply comes via a very old asbestos/cement main so outages are quite common) you don't have to stop flushing and cisterns fed by gravity tend to be a lot quieter than those fed from mains.

My RWH system was a triumph of recycling so probably cost less than £100 to install and we must save almost that much in reduced water costs every year.   Alas,  anyone following the route advised in that link would find it cost a lot more to install. 

EcoScruples

I've seen many "grey water" set ups like the one just mentioned for flushing WC's but when you start talking using rainwater for anything else I'd imagine the filtration part is costly.
Absolutely agree with new homes having this stuff installed as it make perfect sense.
Won't be long before water becomes a limited resource and this stuff just helps.

Mandon75

I have installed a RWH set up at home feeding both my gutter downpipes to two IBCs.
due to the amount of moss on my roof I have discarded the idea of the first flush, instead I have two filters pre tank, a 50 micron filter before my pump and then a 3 stage filtration setup after my pump.
I use my stored water for toilet flushing, washing machine, garden and washing my car.
Due to the bacteria content I won’t be connecting it to my dishwasher and shower until I have a uv filter.
I will have to upgrade my pump in order to supply the additional outlets.
Upon informing my water supplier I received a £278 refund and around £6 discount per monthly bill

anon_ymous

EcoScruples said:

I've seen many "grey water" set ups like the one just mentioned for flushing WC's but when you start talking using rainwater for anything else I'd imagine the filtration part is costly.
Absolutely agree with new homes having this stuff installed as it make perfect sense.
Won't be long before water becomes a limited resource and this stuff just helps.

I don't have a water meter but yeah I'm with you that it's still good to save water