Water Harvesting

The average UK household spends around ninety pence per day for domestic water using approximately 160 litres per day of which one third gets flushed down the toilet.

The roof on a typical four bedroom family home captures in excess of 100,000 litres of rainwater each year. The UK Rainwater Harvesting Association estimate that the average family uses 70,000 litres of water per annum on toilet flushing, clothes washing and general outdoor use.

Installation of a rainwater harvesting system can typically replace up to 50% of mains water consumption in domestic premises and up to 85% in commercial premises.

In addition, collection of rainwater from your roof can reduce surface water by up to 60% and have a significant impact on local flood risk.

The UK lags behind other European countries in the adoption of Rainwater Harvesting systems, installations in Germany outnumber those in the UK by a factor of 100.

In addition to the environmental benefits Rainwater Harvesting projects can offer paybacks as short as three years in some applications although 5 to 10 years is more typical.

Savings are achieved by overall reductions in mains water purchased from your water company and disposal costs.

What is Rainwater Harvesting?

Water Harvesting is the capture and collection of rainwater that falls on the property. The simplest installations will use the existing roofwater drainage system to divert the rainwater into a collection tank which will include a filtration system. Where there is high water usage and/or a large car park or yard it may be cost effective to recover water from these areas but additional filtration may be required.

What are the savings?

Under current water company charging practice stormwater charges are payable in full if any stormwater is discharged into the public sewer. Therefore to maximise savings, account needs to be taken of any overflow from the system to ensure that it discharges either into a soakaway or a private brook or stream. Similarly if the used water from the building can also be processed and discharged into the soakaway then only the used water standing charge will be payable.

For commercial installations business owners can claim 100% tax relief on capital investment on approved products used in the installation of Rainwater Harvesting systems.

What can I use the Harvested Rainwater for?

In theory untreated rainwater can be used for most applications excluding drinking, cooking and personal bathing.

Typical uses are as follows:

Clothes washing

Car Washing

Toilet Flushing

Garden Irrigation

Industrial Processes

However the ability to practically use rainwater in all of these applications will rely on secondary pipework being installed in the premises. This can be implemented very cost effectively in new buildings but retrofitting to existing buildings can be expensive.

What do I do next?

If you are interested in finding out more about Rainwater Harvesting or would like a free survey please contact us either by phone on 0845 0577830 or email us at info@stylecom.co.uk