Real Self Sufficiency - Living Better for Less
Saving Water & Rainwater Harvesting
Despite the fact that the water companies lose millions of litres of purified water through leaking pipes and water seems to hardly ever stop pouring on our heads in the UK, we're told we should reduce our water use.
Once every ten years or so, we have a brilliant summer and out comes the hosepipe ban then we're all forced to treat every drop as precious whilst our gardens try and turn into deserts.
The fact is that we do have a problem, especially in the south east of England where the amount of water that can be delivered is on the edge of demand. These properties are causing stress on the delivery system.
If there's just a single person or couple in a house and you're not using great volumes of water, then it will probably pay you to change to a water meter. Eventually we'll all be on a water meter whether we want to be or not.
Sadly there's no great money savings to be easily made in the home. If you look at the cost of water, not flushing a toilet maybe saves you a penny or two. Of course, if you fit a new toilet, it will flush with nearly half the amount of water they used to use and dual flush (light and full) are about as efficient as a water closet can get.
Showering uses less water than a bath, unless you stand in a pumped power shower for ages. Power showers can use more water than a bath! Not running the tap whilst cleaning your teeth saves a bit as well. New washing machines are not just energy efficient, they use less water as well. It's not worth buying a new washing machine just for that but when the old one dies, your new one will save a few pounds on water each year.
Rainwater Harvesting
One of the biggest uses of water is the garden and come a drought, they don't want you using thousands of litres to keep your lawn green. Bit unfair on those of us growing our own food though.
Hosepipe bans don't apply to your own collected rain water or grey water. Grey water is the waste water from the baths and sink. You can store your water in butts to use on the garden without worrying about cost or legal problems in a drought.
All you need is some water butts, linking kits and a diverter that fits onto your downpipe, preferably one to filter leaves etc out like this one from Ferndale Lodge. Suitable for round plastic downpipes, this top-quality Rain Diverter will channel water into your butt and prevents the butt from overflowing. Easy to install, it has a specially designed filter that stops leaves from clogging the diverter, and allows easy cleaning. Plus the convenient summer/winter switch means that you can turn off the diverter when the weather turns inclement
If you're using water butts then you may need to use something like Ceramic Chips from Harrod Horticultura. You can keep recycled rainwater in your water butt fresh, energised and uncontaminated for 10 years by hanging a bag of these EM Ceramic Chips inside. The pure water will be ideal for developing strong and healthy plants
For more sophisticated and larger volume systems then take a look at the range from Big Green Smile
Saving Money by Saving Energy!
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