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GBlist: re: Rainwater, Greywater, Cisterns



Here are a few unscientific anecdotes that might provide a useful 
perspective ---

Cisterns - Where I'm from (Western Colorado), my entire neighborhood was 
on cisterns, which were filled by hauling water from town (lightly 
treated with chlorine).  Nobody ever did any additional treatment, no 
matter how long the water was in the cisterns (sometimes 1/2 year), and 
in 80 years of habitation, there has never been any instances of related 
illness.  The cisterns are plain concrete, and there is no taste imparted 
to the water.

Greywater - The big problem is obtaining the permit, not the design.  
Most counties with existing regulations do NOT let you do what you might 
expect, namely, use greywater directly on or near plants.  Instead, it 
goes into a subsurface moisture field at root depth, and thus functions 
like a regular leach field, but much more costly.  The best solution in 
this legal quagmire might be to double plumb the house and install a Y 
valve where the greywater exits the house;  all effluent is combined into 
the regular septic system.  Then after the CO is issued, install the 
greywater field, plumb it back to the Y, and away you go.   (The 
anecdote:  I didn't think this up;  a building inspector told me).

Rainwater - As Jorg mentioned, keep in mind that collecting rainwater has 
been standard practice in many parts of the world for millennia;  we are 
not inventing anything in this regard.   It can be easily be used as 
utility water, but as long as the air and roof is clean, it also can be 
easily used (in most cases after treatment) as potable water.  Here, 
rainwater is far cleaner and thus easier to treat than well water.

I've always felt my current location had inadequate rainfall (18") to 
economically justify collection, and this was confirmed when I read in 
the recent EBN that the experts in Texas felt 24" was the minimum.  
However (there's always a valid contrary example isn't there?), I 
recently visited a neighbor who gave up on wells, and built his new house 
for rainwater.  He loves it and the system works great.  He then put in a 
horse barn, and all 8 horses and about 40 new trees are watered off that 
roof system.  THE KEY is to design the house from the beginning - metal 
roofs, easy gutter plan, filter/pumps conveniently planned into the 
mechanical room, and pour the cistern inside the house simply as part of 
the concrete foundation.  (A Home Inspectors worst nightmare - a really 
wet basement!)

Another tidbit of weirdness:  rainwater collection is Colorado is 
actually illegal.  (Anything that takes water out of the watershed 
requires a permit).  However, I've never heard of this being enforced.  

Composting Toilets (all part of the same system) - My observation is that 
the basic units such as Sun Mar etc, don't work for various different 
reasons.  The bigger designs like Clivus etc, do work.  (This of course 
is dependent upon your design goals;  I'm not designing for mountain 
cabins or strictly alternative owners).   Again, it seems almost 
essential to incorporate C.T. into the Concept stage of the building 
process;  even the Design/Development stage is almost too late.  It is 
not neccessary to purchase a unit; custom made C.T. work quite well;  the 
key seems to be solar orientation (heat) and two floors to occupy instead 
of one.  Without this degree of commitment in the initial house design, 
they can be a problem (I'll spare everyone the anecdotes regarding this 
last point).

Conclusions/Generalizations -  

1. Compared with standard American construction practices the designs we 
are talking about may sound brazenly radical;  compared with what some 
people have been doing for centuries, they are fairly normal. 

2. Don't design the house, and then start thinking about the water/waste 
system.  Aggravate your overworked brain, frustrate your clients, and 
ruin your timeline by thinking about it before a floorplan emerges.

3. I agree wholeheartedly with the other contributors who have said this 
issue is really important, and has not gotten enough attention.  
Water/Waste is one system, a huge factor in Greenbuilding, and I look 
forward to reading and learning more on this List.  

Buzz Burrell  *  buzz@diac.com  *  4439 Driftwood Pl, Boulder, CO 80301

Project Manager: Geneva Cohousing Community - 176 acres N of Lyons, CO 
Owner: Bolder Building - solar adobe house finished 7/96
                       - pumice-crete house began 2/97 
Co-founder: Colorado Friends of Tibet - hosting The Dalai Lama 5/97

*     *     *      *      *      *       *      *      *      *      *

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