Water:Retro-fitting rainwater harvesting

From Sustainable Building Resource

[edit] Retro-fitting rainwater harvesting

Top tips Use re-cycled fruit juice containers for water storage. 1500 litres each gives the smallest footprint to height ratio. Alternatively re-cycled IBCs (the plastic containers on a pallet with a steel re-enforcing frame around them, but be aware that they may have been used to hold various chemicals.

If you divert all your stormwater to storage or to alternative soak aways and do not use the utility drains you will be eligible for a reduced water bill from your provider, they will come out to your property to check though!

Experiences Currently storing all rainwater from the roof of a 1790s building and using it for washing machine and toilet flushing and garden. toilets and washing machine are fed from a 60gallon loft tank. This is topped up from 3 IBC tanks at ground level by a float activated pump. The rainwater is filtered before entering the IBCs using the Australian sump system. Crude but effective, it traps all the bird crap, leaves etc and saves buying a fancy filter.