Do you have a backup water system?

Do you have a backup water system?

  • Yes

    Votes: 153 46.1%

  • No

    Votes: 95 28.6%

  • No, but looking into it

    Votes: 73 22.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 11 3.3%
  • Total voters
    332
bwana said:
I do, every day. Laundry is the one thing we have been doing solely with harvested rainwater since I installed the tanks more than two years ago, when at the time we had a top loader that used over 100 litres per load. Even when the rest of the house is using municipal.
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Permanently on rainwater tanks, since 2008. For everything. Hardly ever use municipal water, and only in Jan/Feb if we had guests for extended stays.
 
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Reactions: rh1
Supervan II said:
Permanently on rainwater tanks, since 2008. For everything. Hardly ever use municipal water, and only in Jan/Feb if we had guests for extended stays.
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At the moment I'm switching back and forth between municipal and rainwater. Until the drought is resolved I want to make sure I've got a 30 day reserve or 50% of my capacity. Our 30 day rolling average for municipal water is currently at 89l per day, well below the 50l pp/pd we're asked to limit ourselves to.

However, like I said, even when we are on municipal, laundry is always done on tanks.

For interests sake I measured the amount of water my old LG top loader used. It was 110 litres of [potable] water per load.

Potable water.jpg

My newer front loader uses half that.
 
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Living in Parys, a JoJo and pump are essential. I use a 2200l Jojo and pressure pump. The tank fills from munc water when its available. I've plumbed it so only one valve needed to be swung to swap from munc to JoJo water.
 
bwana said:
At the moment I'm switching back and forth between municipal and rainwater. Until the drought is resolved I want to make sure I've got a 30 day reserve or 50% of my capacity. Our 30 day rolling average for municipal water is currently at 89l per day, well below the 50l pp/pd we're asked to limit ourselves to.

However, like I said, even when we are on municipal, laundry is always done on tanks.
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That's understandable, seeing as you are more than just us two.

And we have been so water-smart that we use minimal anyway, eg, no more than one laundry/week, catch and re-use the first (cold water) to emerge from shower/kitchen, very small veggie garden, etc.

Our 10Kl goes a long way.
 
HunterNW said:
FYI for okes with water tanks and pumps but NO solar power.

Install a pipe and tap so you can get water from the tank when the electricity is off.
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How do you install a water tank and pump without a pipe? Surely it's just a tap required?
 
lkpat said:
How do you install a water tank and pump without a pipe? Surely it's just a tap required?
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Vertical pipe with tap. If you put the tap at the bottom - how do you fit a bucket etc under it ?
 
Supervan II said:
That's understandable, seeing as you are more than just us two.

And we have been so water-smart that we use minimal anyway, eg, no more than one laundry/week, catch and re-use the first (cold water) to emerge from shower/kitchen, very small veggie garden, etc.

Our 10Kl goes a long way.
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Our two kids generate a lot of dirty laundry so we're probably doing 6-8 loads a week.

Honestly I don't bother at all with capturing grey water although the showers and washing machine drain directly to the back yard, but that's more to do with putting less strain on the septic tank than irrigation.

lkpat said:
I filter at the pump. Everything in the house gets filtered water.
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I've got a large first flush and feed off a second tank... plus an inline filter like the one I posted earlier on the pump. It's not potable but it's usable.
 
bwana said:
I've got a large first flush and feed off a second tank... plus an inline filter like the one I posted earlier on the pump. It's not potable but it's usable.
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Yes, I don't drink after the first 3 stage filter, I have a 5 stage drinking water filter at the sink.
 
bwana said:
Our two kids generate a lot of dirty laundry so we're probably doing 6-8 loads a week.

Honestly I don't bother at all with capturing grey water although the showers and washing machine drain directly to the back yard, but that's more to do with putting less strain on the septic tank than irrigation.


I've got a large first flush and feed off a second tank... plus an inline filter like the one I posted earlier on the pump. It's not potable but it's usable.
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ah .now im understanding ,Septic Tank = plot ,farm ,small holding ,more space for water tanks ? or are some parts in residential areas still using septics.
 
us neither ,muni sucks the main collection tank out daily , we have pipes but no treatment plant connection .water is also piped from 20 km away .
 
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I definitely need some kind of plan B as mother nature sometimes takes time to respond on water demand, maybe borehole I guess!!
 
rh1 said:
Voted other, yes, using for laundry and irrigation.

Just need to connect to a filtering system and then plumb into the house, after which it will be used for showers and bathrooms.

I am planning to go with a similar setup as per @HunterNW.
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Ours is the same - just need a plumber to plumb to the house as we also have the filter already.
 
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