Rainwater harvesting systems: More popular

Rainwater harvesting systems are becoming more popular in the UK has this for a number of reasons.

1) Water shortages (mainly in the South East)
2) Storm water attenuation
3) Environmental awareness
4) Gadget factor amongst self-builders
5) Government pressure in the schools and hospitals projects.
6) The code for sustainable homes

This last point is very important as we at Freerain are seeing an increase in the number of developers seeking to gain level three accreditation. In terms of water this means a reduction from 150 litres per person per day to 105 litres per person per day. This can be quite hard to achieve particularly during the harder times in the construction industry. It is possible to reduce mains water demand, but using certain conservation messures such as aerate taps, A-rate washing machines and low-dual flush WC's. But in order to meet level three and certainly the higher levels, then rainwater harvesting systems are the way forward. This is because that broadly speaking and assuming that there is enough roof area and rainfall. Then a rainwater harvesting systems can reduce the overall demand of mains water by around 50% or 75 litres per person per day. This means that a design team can be confident that with a rainwater harvesting system there water aspects of the code performance are taken care of.

Freerain has prepared a short introductory guide to explain the rainwater harvesting systems.