It’s just water bro. Shower, laundry, drink it, whatever. I have a thousand gallon tank, nice family home might have 10k. No other water source
Comment on Rainwater collection and reuse - IBC totes and irrigation pumps
AscendantSquid@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
What would one use 300 gallons of rainwater for? I’m not trying to sound judgemental or whatever, I’m actually curious because 300 sounds like a lot. Is it mainly for irrigation? Would that make sense for a larger garden? I’ve heard that some people use graywater for flushing toilets, is this part of that?
moonshadow@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
Tbh even my fairly small garden could make use of this much water in the UK. I focused on keep stuff alive rather than optimal growing conditions.
Problem I find is that collecting rainwater is difficult to justify on the price of it. I looked at tanks out of curiosity, but water is so cheap that it could never realistically pay for its self.
Space is also difficult as my garden is fairly small. Looked at underground tanks but the prices there are even more crazy. I think the most cost effective option for me would be to just dump greywater on the garden instead. That just costs a pipe. Maybe something to put over the pipe where it crosses the path to avoid a trip hazard.
Chewie@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Fair enough, and with underground tanks you need a way of getting the water out again, which usually means pumps, which adds expense and maintenance, and you have to make sure the water is really clean.
Using greywater is sensible. Switch your soaps to nature-safe ones to help - www.faithinnature.co.uk make some good hand, shampoo and dish-washing soaps. I really like the solid shampoo bars from here: soapnuts.co.uk/…/bulk-mixed-shampoo-selection too.
You can also get filters to help get rid of the impurities. One system is using a reed bed if you have space: www.reedbeds.co.uk
www.hockertonhousingproject.org.uk has such a system as part of their pond system. We went on one of their open days a few years ago, which was really interesting.
HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Reed beds are an interesting idea, I had initially thought of having it poured directly into an earth channel or two along my garden so it soaks in almost immediately and avoids having any standing water as I had heard storing greywater can rapidly get unpleasant. I suppose as long as it is filtering more than it goes stagnant then it should be alright.
Collecting it should be ok, got 2 pipes going out the house, one from the bathroom and other kitchen and they are next to each other. I think bathroom (not toilet, that is separate) is probably cleaner and contains less soap. Realistically it would only be necessary during times of drought anyway, now we are going into autumn there is already enough water from rain. Which should also help flush out anything that could build up from the greywater.
Chewie@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Sounds good. Yes, I wouldn’t want to use toilet water, but bath and shower water would be ok. Just remember when you’re cleaning the bath with bleach or similar, send that water back to the normal drain!
Kitchen water from washing up should be fine, just watch that you don’t put too many fats down the drain, as it could smell and attract rats etc, possibly (just guessing, but I would think it would be a bad idea).
Also, i guess you need to think about the temperature - you don’t want hot water near your plants!
Next year I should think about doing the same thing with shower/bath water at least, that is probably the cleanest waste water.
If you just want to use an earth channel or similar, maybe have a look at “Field Drains”, eg: store.jdpipes.co.uk/land-drainage/ ? although you might have to get access to them now and again to clear the holes.
late_pessimistic@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
I am not the OP, but even if it doesn’t have practical use, I just think this is coolest thing ever. It also aligns with self-sufficiency and resilience values of this solarpunk server
Chewie@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
Our UK garden is about 75x75m, which is a decent size, but not massive. About half to 3/4 of it is grass, which I hardly ever water, and haven’t this year even though we had a drought.
We have 5 IBCs, and several other randomly-sized water butts (~7000l total (1500gal UK, 1850gal US)), to keep our veggies and fruit bushes watered. We ran out this summer, and had to use about 500l of tap water until it rained again :(
Dry periods are likely to get worse in future, so I need to get more water storage. I also want to start using rain water to wash clothes (or at least fabrics we use for our pet rabbit houses), but I need a good filtering system first.
We have 2 IBCs stacked, and I was trying to use the top one to gravity-feed our downstairs toilet cistern for flushing and worked well, although it took 7 minutes for the cistern to fill, which isn’t great if you have to accommodate a lot of people. It is good enough for us though.
I could add a pump to speed up the process, but I’m trying not to add more cost and complications to the system unnecessarily.
I can fit 1 more IBC in somewhere - they don’t look pretty, but they are very practical. I normally transport them home on the top of my car on a roof-rack… and drive slowly! :)
UnfairUtan@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
When there isn’t much rain in the summer and you try to keep your plants alive with collected rainwater, I assure you that it empties fast