Anyone here Rainwater Harvesting?

[Rocker]

The proposed introduction of water charges [for mains water and sewage services] has prompted people to look at Rainwater Harvesting. It is clearly crazy that treated drinking water is used to flush toilets and water flowers etc. I have installed [??] a number of water butts and a 1000 litre tank to capture some of the rain that falls and to use the water , initially in the garden, but it is easily possible for this water to be pumped into a tank in the attic to supply our toilets. I buy into the thinking that water is a scarce resource and every effort should be made to conserve what we have.

Our storage capacity is around 1800 litres and the tank and water butts, free barrels and piping cost somewhere near €250. The Irish Met Service publish a chart of the average annual rainfall for the country, http://www.met.ie/climate/rainfall.asp, it is fascinating to realize that an average of 1 metre of rain falls on most parts of the country every year.

Commercial rainwater harvesting systems are expensive, typically €3K for a 3000 litre capacity system. These would not be viable unless water price per 1000 litres goes through the roof. Which is possible as the Europeans still effectively control our Government finances. Protect the Bond holders and all that shit.............

IMHO the Government made a right balls up of setting up Uisce Eireann or whatever the water company is called. The company apparently was setup to collect money from each house. Very little was said about eliminating the leaks in the system or upgrading the mains piping. How any Government can stand over their own admission that up to 40% of the mains water is lost through leaks is beyond me. Even less was said about persuading users to use less water [one small step is to capture and store the rainwater that falls everywhere].

I think every house should pay for their water supply. Exactly as for electricity and gas. But we have to pay for what we use and not a 'politically allowable' compromise of a fixed charge irrespective of water usage. Anyone here care to comment?

[Fran]

I often feel we are going backwards. The house I grew up in, a real bungalow bliss 1970's house had a collection system with a 4000 gallon tank buried in the ground at the back, and all the rainwater from the roof was collected and used for toilets, rads and hotwater. There was a separate well for drinking water. But the pumping system on each was crap - and the well water was very hard. IT does make me appreciate what we have now.

Yes, its crazy to be using treated water for plants and washing cars..... but the gov have stuffed up so badly here its just incredible. Only last week I steam cleaned one of the decks here - you know what I thought.... ah sure it doesn't matter what water I use, its all one charge now.... and that's with me wanting to save water in general.

Its so crazy... and I think thats why the europeans are staying well away from commenting on it. Then there's the rumours over how it was set up and the tangled DOB story. Personal experience tells me that when I see an unfathomable, nonsensical clusterfu*k like this that politics must be at the back of it. Someone set it up this way for some reason. Doesn't exactly ease your suspicions does it?

Fran

[tony]

Anything about renewables in Ireland that attracts a grant etc always means it is over priced.
How can it be justifiable to spend north of €3k for a tank/pump and filtering kit.

Would agree with all sentiments above but I would have hoped if the european's smelled a rat they would act.

Simplest way to sort it is to put more tax on fags and petrol and ring fence to fix the system.
Give decent allowances based on realistic usage and charge after a certain point. Still not ideal as we will all use up our limits.

It reminds me of the old gas deals 550therms or whatever it was called a year. We would have every rad on 24hrs a day with the windows opened to try and burn up the allowance. If one tried to conserve you were charged regardless!!