Selfsufficientish.com

Note even spring yet, and already Thames Water are the fifth water company in the South East to have imposed a hosepipe ban. If you live in the affected area, you'd better read this and this, so that you don't risk a £1000 fine.

So I reckon it's time to get a water butt. Trouble is, living in a terraced house, I don't actually have a rainwater downpipe to connect it to (they go every 2nd house). I may have to do a bit of modification to the guttering.

We don't use the water coming down from the roof because the upstairs neighbour's other waste water (soapy baths, washing machine outlet, etc) also gets included in the mix before it gets to ground level.

Instead, we take the water that comes from one of our shed roofs - not as much but enough to help out in the garden. We're actually thinking of getting a second butt in though - probably even less well fed but a place we can top up when the main butt is overflowing.

Wulf

wulf wrote:We don't use the water coming down from the roof because the upstairs neighbour's other waste water (soapy baths, washing machine outlet, etc) also gets included in the mix before it gets to ground level.

Wulf

Whoa! The mixing of stormwater and ANYTHING else is highly illegal in Aus, I am surprised that it is allowed over there Wulf - "the drain is just for rain"!

Nev

Not supposed to happen in France either, but these things do! We have downpipes that meet where the overflow from the septic tank is (illegal) which caused bad smells to come back up beside the back door where the downpipe is. We managed to fix that thankfully.

Waterbutts are the way to go. We now have 2 x 1000 litre tanks; with existing butts now totalling some 3,300 litres altogether. Sods law of course will dictate that it will rain all summer!!!

Wombat wrote:Whoa! The mixing of stormwater and ANYTHING else is highly illegal in Aus, I am surprised that it is allowed over there Wulf - "the drain is just for rain"!

Really?! There's a separate pipe for toilet waste but all the other "grey" water flows down the same hole, whether direct from the gutter, fed halfway up from the neighbours flat, or fed by seperate pipes from our kitchen and bathroom.

What water disposal arrangements have other UK people got?

Wulf

You wouldn't be allowed to do it now - new build would have to have surface water taken to a soakaway usually. Contaminated water (grey, and, err... other colours) has to go to the treatment plant, but you're not supposed to send non-effluent stuff to them - that would just unnecessarily load the system.

But there's not much you can do about older houses that were built before they thought like this. These sort of building regs. aren't applied retrospectively, so you won't get into trouble, Wulf.

Can someone tell me if its true that if theres a hosepipe ban in my area and I use a hosepipe connected to my water butt that I can be fined? Its going to be a real pain carrying all those watering cans to the veg plot. Even though we are off mains sewage we still have to have seperate arrangements for rainwater and black/grey water disposal,all rainwater has to have a seperate soakaway and cannot go into the septic tank.

I wouldn't have thought so.... although someone might see you using a hosepipe and report you which could create complications. I prefer to use a watering can anyway - you can be much more precise with your watering than the general soaking given by a hose (which will drain your water butt dry pretty quickly!).

Wulf

Arr Lad! and there be nothing worse than a dry butt! (insert cross between pirate and yorkshire accent)

Nev

Goodlife1970 wrote:Can someone tell me if its true that if theres a hosepipe ban in my area and I use a hosepipe connected to my water butt that I can be fined?

Best bet would probably be to phone your water company and ask them what the situation is. Or have a look for a website.

My water co. has a FAQ about the ban, which says this:

Can I use a short length of hosepipe to fill containers?

Yes, if to fill a container, e.g. watering can or bucket.

Can I use a hosepipe to reuse wash water, i.e. from the bath or washing machine?

Yes, a hosepipe may be used to syphon water for reuse.

which doesn't answer your precise question, but may be a clue.

Isle of Wight now has a ban too, apparently.

I've just found the Environment Agency site about the bans, but it's currently a couple of weeks out of date, so doesn't include the latest additions.

Thanks Stew,I think I would be ok,from what I can make out.To be honest I cant see us having a ban here,it hasnt stopped raining for days now and we have had normal yearly rainfall (according to the Welsh news) the river is up as normal for this time of year too. Mind you iut would be one helluva news story :Hosepipe Ban in Wales! You dont see that often.....

Same down here but I am looking at irrigation to reduce the amount I use. It might be a good time to post a link to somewhere selling "leaky pipe" which reduces the amount of water you use because it goes in under the surface and spreads by capillary action. It's made from recycled rubber too.

http://www.gardensystems.co.uk/products ... aky%20Pipe

Now, a question. Anyone know a way to harvest runoff from a standard polytunnel?

I am wondering about getting a water butt for our house, it is rented though so I am guessing we will have to either leave it here when we move or replace the drainpipe. Is it costly to get one fitted and how easy is it to fit one if you are somewhat of a DIY disaster area.

Poly tunnel I wonder if you could get a gutter pipe running alongside with some plastic stuck to the main poly tunnel and going into the pipe. then into a butt. Does this make sense I can picture it, don't know if it would work.

thats a good iea andy,I might try that with my plastic greenhouse.
You can hang chain from guttering and the water will run down the chain and into the butt so no plumbing.I havent tried this myself but I guess you need the chain to go through some sort of hole under the pipe.
Ive also seen a photo in an old gardening book of a piece of guttering atop a piece of fencing with a butt at the end but i dont know if it would gather much water.
Ive got 5 gallon buckets(from laundry powder) just sitting under the eaves of our big shed.OH built the shed and the roof overhang is about 12" out from the wall as he didnt want to cut the roofing stuff. Last year we had a couple of days of downpour and they filled up to overflowing. Just as well as the water butt was blown over and we lost a full load.