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Letter: Harvest the rainwater
IT would now appear official that Mid Sussex suffers from a persistent water shortage or should I say a “Serious Water Stress Problem” which has been consistently ignored by our planners when consenting to the huge housing developments currently in hand in our area.
As an answer to this South East Water is now, on a compulsory basis, installing water meters to all households in the area which up to now have managed to avoid them. I do not disagree with the fitting of water meters. My water supply has been metered since we had to pay for the installation of the meters.
However, the fitting of water meters in itself will not save water. The saving comes through the gentle persuasive pressure of financial stress on the householders to induce them to make better use of a limited resource. The main advantage of fitting the water meters will be to the water companies in improving their efficiency in both raising revenue as well as in reducing wasted production. Benefits, I hope, in the intermediate term will also accrue to their customers.
The situation demands a much greater saving of water than a mere 10 per cent predicted as a result of fitting the water meters.
In 2008 I installed a Rainwater Harvesting System. I do not mean a rainwater butt (I have three of those already). It consists of a 3.5 cubic metre rainwater collecting tank plumbed into my toilets, washing machine and garden tap. It has reduced our water demand by more than 60 per cent. This is, I believe, the sort of savings we need to be aiming for in this area. The cost of retro-fitting such a system is high and at present day costs more an act of faith unless there are other good reasons for fitting one. However, the costs when fitted to a new house would hardly register in its price tag.
In case some of our local planners read the newspapers I would make the following recommendations if we are going to be serious about saving water:
A. Do not permit any more major housing developments in the area.
B. If new build is unavoidable then ensure that all new buildings include properly-optimised Rainwater Harvesting Systems which will not only save water but also reduce the risk of flooding.
C. Encourage the retro-fitting of such systems in the area.
Peter Hinze,
Lindfield
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Weather for Haywards Heath
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
Comments
There are 2 comments to this article
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The Rainman
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 02:05 PMFurther to my comment, should you need free advice please e-mail Therainman.co.uk I would gladly help.
The Rainman
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 12:38 PMSir, I totally agree with you but, there are not a lot of people around, including planners or water authroities who are totally conversant with most Rainwater Harvesters. I have been in this buisness for 12 years to which most of my work is either giving proper advice or rectifying poorly installed systems. I have even rectified our prime minsters London home which had a bad installation so you can see why a lot of people try to avoid them. If you get the right system for your needs and get it installed correctly and commissioned they will save money and the environment. There are quite a few manufacturers in this market some far better than others so the the first thing to advocate is getting proper advice and knowledge from a speicialist. The Rainman.
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