Rainwater Harvesting – How It Works & How It Can Help You
Rainwater harvesting is the process of capturing rainwater for reuse in other applications in the future.
This can be done on a domestic or commercial scale and is a great way of reducing water consumption for both households and businesses.
How Does it Work?
Rainwater harvesting systems work by collecting rainwater from large surfaces and holding these in some sort of tank. This could be as simple as a water butt in the garden, or an industrial harvesting tank. The water is then filtered and used directly in other appliances.
The reusable rainwater can be pumped back into the building’s water system and used for any of the following:
- Flushing toilets
- Washing machines
- Washing vehicles
- Gardening
- Showers
- Sinks
- Baths
If you’re using a water butt, collection is simple – the butt can be placed underneath your current gutter downpipe and water reused directly from here, but you’ll have to install extra equipment if you require this water to be filtered.
Specific, filtered rainwater harvest systems will usually be installed in the form of an above or underground tank, which again will be connected to your rainwater system, but filters will collect any debris or leaves. If a system does not have a filter built in then a silt trap or catchpit chamber can be used.
Water is then stored and pumped to feed into the necessary areas of the house where the water can be reused. You could also hook a system like this up to an outside tap.
Why Should I Harvest Rainwater?
As water consumption increases and the product is in high demand, it only makes sense to capture, store, filter and reuse this necessary resource. There’s also now increased attention on eco-friendly alternatives being used in homes and businesses and reducing mains water usage is one of these alternatives.
The average roof collects some 85,000 litres of water, which is enough to fill 450 water butts annually, according to EST research. Filtering and reusing this water for gardening, washing clothes, cars and flushing toilets is estimated to cut household bills and water usage by 50%, a huge impact both on the environment and a household’s outgoings.
So, recycle your rainwater and rest easy knowing your bills might decrease and you’re doing your bit to help the environment as well – there’s really no downside to rainwater harvesting.
We have a number of different options which are flexible and can fit underground or onto existing buildings and they are well worth the investment.
Shop rainwater harvesting, water butts and soakaways here.