RAIN WATER HARVESTING

Suppose u have a house that measures 12m by 12m (i.e 40X40ft), this means that the amount of water u can collect in a year is 12X12X1.2=172.8cc or 172,800liters. (Here, we take the annual rainfall is 1200mm).

According to demand, for a middle class household, the daily demand is 150liters per day per person, which is to say 54,750liters annually. For a house with a dad, mom and 2 kids, the figure is 219,000liters.

This means, if you can be able to collect all rain water, this is 78.9% of your demand.

Size of the tank will be derived from a mass curve (cumulative demand vs cumulative rainfall curve).

To cut my long story short, am strongly advocating for RAINWATER HARVESTING from roofs, rocks, streams etc.

For any details, don't hesitate to consult a water engineer. Here at Kenya, someone needs to come up with a policy that all buildings MUST be fitted with a rainwater collection mechanism and the government gives incentives (tax laxes on construction equipments and fuel) to individuals and corporates that harvest's rain.

I have built a house where I have channeled all grey water to a small underground concrete tank. The tank has 3 partitions that connect to each other. The first small partition is layered with sand, gravel, ballast and quarry chips (top to bottom). It connects via an opening at the bottom to the second chamber where water overflows over the top to the main holding chamber. This way, chamber 1 and 2 are always full with water. I intend to use this water for watering my lawn. It does not smell as normal grey water would after storage but I need to get a biodegradable soap to be used in the house. If I had been brighter, I would have done seperate plumbing for the toilet cistern water so I could pump this 'purified water' to a tank in the ceiling that is dedicated to serving the toilets only. Literature says that this purification method is so thorough that you can even re use the water for household chores like washing and even showering.

@nostoppingthis,@tom_boy

I agree. I have done the same. I did totally independent plumbing work for black water, and for grey water. Black water is generally of very little volume and that goes to a small sceptic tank and the waste decomposes naturally without any intervention by me. The grey water - bathrooms, laundry, kitchen and run-off from the compound goes to a soak pit, where l have installed a small pedrollo pump and have run the piping along the perimeter wall and the house perimeter. Twice a week, l switch on the pump for one hour. My lawn is ever green!

Very interesting green ideas!

Grey Water ---- All waste water from kitchen, bathrooms etc.

Black/Brakish Water --- All waste water from the TOILET!