Harvesting Rain Water - Save Water and Money

The UK offers many privileges to its inhabitants, one of them being having easy access to water. Therefore it will be a shock to many to hear that certain parts of England are suffering from water shortages. We are not so invincible after all. It is very easy to take our water for granted.    

This is when rainwater harvesting comes in. Rainwater harvesting is simply collecting rainwater that would otherwise go to complete waste. The idea behind it, is make use of water that falls out of the sky which can easily be used for a wide variety of purposes as an alternative to just relying on mains water supply. Rainwater harvesting is not a new concept as it has been practiced for centuries,  and still is in various countries. 

The water butt

A largely popular method of collecting rainwater is to place a water butt on your down-pipe.  Using a water butt is a popular method of harvesting rainwater as it is cost-effective and easy to use. The rainwater can be used for gardening purposes and even car washing. In addition, if you wish, you can fit two water butts next to each other from the same downpipe if you have a big garden.

If you wish to go one step further, you can try upgrading to a simple harvesting rainwater pump and filter. This pump creates a pressurised system that can then be used in conjunction with a hosepipe; great for watering the garden or washing the car using a hosepipe.

What can rainwater be used for?

The rainwater can be used for a wide variety of outdoor purposes such as watering the garden, or cleaning windows. If the end result is the same then why not use rainwater instead of mains water?  Rainwater harvesting has other benefits too. For instance, the rainwater encourages less build-up of calcium deposits in appliances.

The use of  rainwater around the house

Instead of using your regular supply of water for your washing machines and the toilet, why not use rainwater? Of course the rainwater would first have to be filtered and siphoned. 

Before you install the tank next to your house, you should think about a number of factors first. For instance, the size of the tank will be dependent on how many people live in the house, the amount of water you will all be using, and various other factors.  Once you have decided on which tank to install, the rainwater will be filtered and pumped into a header tank in the loft of your home where it is distributed into a household and non-drinking supply.  You should note that you will have to make some changes to your internal plumbing so that the rainwater supply will be separated from the water supply.

Some final thoughts

With water rates continuing to be on the rise, it seems that more people are considering the rainwater harvesting option. If more of us realised that we do not need to use water from the mains supply for many of the domestic chores, we would save a lot of water. There are many long-term benefits of rainwater harvesting, therefore it is an option that should not be lightly dismissed.

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This page has been written with contributions from plumbers from Essex and experienced plumbers from Kingston Upon Thames. Several of the company's qualified plumbers from Northamptonshire have worked on similar issues as well as some of our Gas Safe engineers from Highgate and our Bromley plumbing and heating engineers.

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