Do our water butts contribute to the water shortage

[RedThorn]

I know, I was also trying to point out that statistics can be skewed too

[RedThorn]

Sorry I was editing my post when you responded, so could have come over wrong...

[Hilary B]

Not read to the end yet, BUT, until a few years ago I lived on an island which had no mains water or drainage. We did NOT pay any water rates AT ALL. Each house had a private supply, and a septic tank, and we worked it out as suited us.

[Hilary B]

That sounds good fun Baz. If you had one of those flexi tubs, put a sheet of perspex over the top to catch the sun and thereby heat the water, it could be very refreshing after a days gardening. I've been mentally working along these lines for an outdoor shower for a while. I have a very private garden!!!

Our property in Spain has no mains anything, but we have an outdoor shower that works well.
2 solar battery-chargers (the sort they sell for keeping a car battery topped up)
1 car battery
1 caravan-water-supply pump, with shower-hose attached
1 small bucket
1 large bottled-water bottle (we have to buy drinking water so we get plenty of bottles, finding used for them is fun!)
some second-hand bubblewrap.
Fill bottle, wrap in bubble-wrap and leave in the sun all day
transfer warmed water to bucket, drop in shower-pump, and switch on!
When things are really warm just leaving the water in the bucket covered with bubblewrap works well.

[Alison]

You can have you own private borehole / well supply without having to pay anything to the water company although you will have limitations on how much you can abstract. Likewise the water companies own some natural sources in which case you'd have to pay.

[morverngirl]

We got some rain the other day and i went out for a walk ,face up to the rain, I do miss it. My favourite bit about my visit home to the West Coast of Scotland was the rain, it felt so fresh and soft and WET and lovely and I'm drooling now ...just thinking of it

[Hilary B]

A thought, in most towns the water off the roof goes straight into the sewers, so catching it before it gets there can't do any harm.... (did I already mention this several posts ago on a different page?)

[Madasafish]

Wot's a "water shortage" ?

[Potstubsdustbins]

Hilary rain water correctly known as 'top water' has for many years had its own system of underground pipes which conduct it to the nearest water course. Its only Victorian and early Edwardian buildings where it flows in to the sewer system.

One of the major problems at the moment is supposed plumbers and DIYers connecting washing machines etc in to the top water system and thereby polluting our streams and rivers.
Several water companies have now set up dedicated tracking teams who can trace back the pollution to source and issue heavy penalties, I believe under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Colin

[Hilary B]

Hilary rain water correctly known as 'top water' has for many years had its own system of underground pipes which conduct it to the nearest water course. Its only Victorian and early Edwardian buildings where it flows in to the sewer system.

One of the major problems at the moment is supposed plumbers and DIYers connecting washing machines etc in to the top water system and thereby polluting our streams and rivers.
Several water companies have now set up dedicated tracking teams who can trace back the pollution to source and issue heavy penalties, I believe under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Colin

We look at houses (quite a lot of them old ones, but plenty from the 1930s, 1950s onwards) most working days. The majority of them the gutters go to the same pipes as the rest.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I can assure that most of the housing stock built after the 40s they were separate. If you look closely you will find things like rainwater hoppers on older stock where as on newer stock they have vanished.
Thats the demarcation line between the two systems.

Another give away are the grilled openings on the side of streams and rivers thats the outlets.

Colin

[Alison]

Colin, the date that separate systems became the normal does vary considerably around the country so you can't generalise really. And although that is the normal these days a very high number of properties are still on combined systems as they were built before the changes. This is why you get combined sewer overflows which will discharge to water courses when the storm is above a certain value (usually say a 1 in 30 event) and the sewage is considered dilute enough not to cause a problem and this is what you often see as grilled openings in streams, they're often directly linked to the sewerage system (hopefully by a 6mm in both directions screen but we're still working on getting them all sorted)

[Hilary B]

Thanks Alison, I got told the same (that it basically is a regional thing) by OH.
I wonder how they manage when an old house among other old houses is replaced? The infra-structure for separate systems won't be there, nor the space for an individual soakaway....

[Alison]

If it's a single house build then it will have to connect into the existing infrastructure so is more likely to be still on a combined system as, unless there is the ability to connect relatively easily into separate systems the cost would be prohibitive. That said, this should form part of the planning discussion but all too often is ignored.

[Hilary B]

Even rural properties with septic tanks sometimes have the rainwater going there as well.......
When we were out on that island (no mains except electricity) we had to rebuild part of the house after a fire, and were told the rainwater off the new roof SHOULD NOT go into the 'watercourse' (roadside ditch, eventually leading to the sea, via other ditches) but must have a soakaway 5.5m from the house. We did get approval to extend the drain to our goose pond.... This was in 1996.