Sustainable water: falls from the sky
Have you ever dreamed of building a rainwater collection system for your home -- one that will make you totally water independent? Sustainable rainwater catch systems are becoming more reliable, and perhaps more affordable, than you might expect. According to rainwater.org, you're looking at around $15,000 to construct a 1st-rate, whole-house system. That includes everything from the tank to the ultra-violet lights. Not to mention, some local governments are offering incentives for rainwater collection and green building projects. If that's too rich for your blood, you can do a more affordable supplemental system such as rain barrels.
As a reference guide, rainwater.org offers a pretty complete set of information, including a book and video of how to build your system from the ground up. Chapter 1 of the book -- which you can view online -- discusses practical things like how much water you'll need and how much can be harvested per inch of rainfall, so you can take your local rainfall situation into consideration before building.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-22-2007 @ 2:44PM
Nopanacea said...
You can build rainwater catchment systems for a lot less than $15k as well. One way to greatly reduce the cost is to utilize the caught water for other uses besides consumption. We can greatly reduce our use of potable water by catching water and using it for irrigation, toilets (instead of flushing our excrement with drinking water), etc.
Here is a link to lots of rainwater information including case studies/plans for systems ranging $100 to $10,000.
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11-22-2007 @ 2:46PM
Nopanacea said...
oops, here is the link - http://www.appropedia.org/rainwater
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11-22-2007 @ 10:04PM
sue said...
you might want to check out a very simple rain barrel from www.aquabarrel.com - plus they have downspout diverters and downspout filters too.
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11-25-2007 @ 8:24AM
Sage Vann said...
Though this is a fantastic way to make your home more green most US municipalities and states have expressly forbidden domestic or other rainwater harvesting systems. As this rainwater is assumed to drain into aquifers which run cross city, county, and state boundaries any collection system takes water which is assumed to refill these aquifers and breaks all sorts of fun cross border water agreements.
Arizona, New Mexico, and New York are more progressive and do allow domestic rainwater harvesting but the rules and regulations are extremely strict.
Before you spend $15,000 on a fancy water system be sure your state or city allows it!
-S
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11-26-2007 @ 1:36PM
Karsten said...
And do not forget some other good tasks rain water can do for you:
* Wash your car (cost, pollution, and labor free)
* Wash your drive way (why you would spend any time or energy doing this ever I will never understand)
* Wash anything that is stored outside
* Clean clothes (just hang them in a rainstorm, has worked for some instead of dry-cleaning - No guarantees!!)
* Wash carpets, runner, etc.
Check the site below for more ,sometimes strange, but potentially very efficient, not-polluting ideas.
Karsten
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http://www.polluteless.com
Practical Advice to Pollute Less
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