In terms of reducing water usage in your home or business, there are a number of suggestions on this site which can help. Rainwater harvesting will not reduce your consumption so should be used in conjunction with these water saving measures, but it will reduce the amount of water you use from the mains. Rainwater harvesting is the collection of water which would otherwise literally go down the drain! Whilst the collected water is not suitable for drinking it can still be utilised around the home or business.
Rainwater harvesting is of course heavily reliant on rainfall which means that the volume collected can not be guaranteed to meet demand. This in itself need not be a problem, however, as it would in any case be supplementary to mains water usage. There are effectively two types of rainwater harvesting systems. The first, which we will explain further here, is where the water is used for domestic purposes such as toilet flushing. The second is where the water is used for gardening and other outdoor uses and more information can be found on this on our garden water butt page.
If the water is to used inside the building the water is usually collected in an underground tank after running down drainpipes and being filtered to remove leaves and debris. This water can then be used for washing machines or toilet flushing without any further treatment.
The typical cost of installing a rainwater harvesting system is approximately £2,500 so, due to the relatively low water costs in the UK, is often not economic for single dwellings particularly as the roof area may not be sufficient to provide enough water to meet demand. Larger scale projects such as industrial buildings or commercial properties, however, are likely to see significant savings.
For additional information on Rainwater Harvesting visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk
