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FEATURE WATER CONSERVATION
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the question of clean drinking water is becoming more important than ever before. Homeowners should save water for a dry patch.
R
ainwater harvesting is the collection, storage and distribution of rainwater.
Catching the rain
The perfect storage facility is a water tank. Harvested rainwater can
essentially be used anywhere where tap water is used. The idea of using drinking water to flush toilets and water lawns is wasteful especially in light of water shortages and the dwindling reliability of the national water supply network, Rainwater can be used for all household purposes, including irrigation, refilling pools, flushing
When considering the size of water tanks, these
• Electrical supply point
• How many people are there in the house? The more
• A ball valve to augment supply in the water
people using water, the less rainwater storage is
toilets and washing cars. Harvesting rainwater is easy. Water rain runners are fixed to each of the gutter downpipes to
needed and vice versa. • What is the size of roof area? The greater the area that is harvested, the greater storage capacity can
initially harvest the rainwater. This water is fed into rainwater storage tanks, and a pump system is used to pump this water from the rainwater tanks to the house. STORAGE TANKS Tank sizes for rainwater storage include 1 500lt, 2 500lt and 5 000lt. Although 10 000lt water tanks units are available, this size is very unwieldy.
tanks from municipal mains. This gives an emergency supply at all times • An override to revert to municipal mains should the rainwater be exhausted.
be viably installed • What type of roof do you have? The more efficient the surface, the more water can be harvested • What is the rainfall pattern? How much and how often does it rain? WHERE TO PLACE THE TANK Water tanks no longer need to stand at a wall under the roof eaves. It is possible to fill a rainwater tank or multiple rainwater tanks without the need for any pumping. Simply make use of gravity to make rainwater harvesting sustainable. WATER RUNNER SYSTEM A water runner system will deliver water to any place
RAINWATER TANK TIPS • Install gutter mesh to prevent leaves and debris from blocking gutters • Fit enough gutter outlets on the underside of the gutter to prevent obstruction of water flow • A ‘Leaf Eater’ can be installed onto downpipes. This is a simple and effective way to prevent blockages • Install a tank screen at the tank entry point to filter water and keep mosquitoes and pests out • Consider annual rainfall, roof catchment area and water usage when determining the size of the tank you want to install • Use a tank top up system (if required) to automatically top up the tank with mains
around a house or garden so long as the head of the
water when water levels fall to a designated
water runner system is higher than the head of the tank.
minimum level
The water runner system is a self-cleaning device placed in your downpipe to send harvested rainwater in an underground pipe to water tanks without any chance of the delivery pipe blocking or clogging in any way. The system receives the water, sieves out any debris and delivers the water via an underground pipe to the remote water tank. WATER PRESSURE FOR HOUSEHOLD USE A pump to pressurise the water for the supply is used to deliver water. The pump starts soon after a tap is turned on and switches off after all taps are closed. This is automatic. THE WHOLE SYSTEM INVOLVES • Installing a system to harvest rainwater into each downpipe • Installation of suitable size and number of rainwater tanks • A pump to deliver the water to the house. If there is a need for high peak times of water usage, more pumps can be installed in parallel JUNE 2020 DIY & INDUSTRIAL TRADE NEWS
to increase the higher volumes required
factors should be taken into consideration:
• Select a pump system (if required) to distribute water for use inside or outside the home. On simple systems, gravity will do the trick too.
