It’s time to get saving on a rainy day
Well, the confusion about water charges continues in heavy waves of press releases, geysers of outrage on the streets and in Dáil Eireann, and the odd puddle in print by consumer groups frustrated at the lack of clarity around the cost per year of water per household.
The number slops back and forth between a sip below €5 to as much as €8 per week for an ‘average’ household, and this is probably championing the best behaved, green-gilled water savers. Flat-rate water charges for households without meters will start from the October of this year based on occupancy and the size of the property.
So, meters or nay, the first bills will be arriving as of January 2015. The IMF wants them, the EU wants them, and the government in power has been playing in the shallows since 2009 — we will be billed next year.
Considering that average domestic users in the UK pay €415/£355 per year, it’s likely that our price per cubic metre of water (1,000l) will be compared to our nearest European neighbours and will seep upward over time to Fianna Fáil’s original average charge of €400 per year.
Only the Commission for Energy Regulation can give us the final figure. Given all the indicators, a guestimate for 2014 of €300 per year with reasonable conservation habits should see a family of four out of the financial deep end. Groups in a financially vulnerable position will be considered on the basis of ability to pay — and by the end of this month we should know more.
Billing takes into account a universal free personal allowance which varies between adult (speculated at 30,000l) and child occupiers (38,000l — rendering their billing free). Average use per adult in Ireland in a day is currently around 150l, so every one of us uses about 55,000l a year. Suddenly that luxurious power shower might seem like an unnecessary drain at 47l for seven minutes of wicked sensory pleasure.
What’s not being widely discussed is that two services are being charged for by Irish Water.
The first is a charge on the water going into the house, and the other is a charge for the wastewater going out and in need of treatment.
If you’re lucky enough to have a well and a private waste water system — then hey-ho, you’re high and dry, but by using the public drains system you remain a customer of Irish Water. If you receive water from the mains and use mains drains, both components are included in your one bill.
Ensure your private or group waste water system is registered as your local authority may demand proof.
We’ve discussed what you can do to reduce your water usage indoors at length on these pages, but what about all those summer preoccupations in the garden? According to the Irish Water Treatment Association, up to 55% of domestic water could be substituted for rain water, (not of drinking/ potable quality). Whether you take the rain from your roof, garage or out-buildings, it’s demented not to use what God gifts Ireland so freely most of the year.
From next year, every new build, commercial and domestic, will have to include a dedicated rain water harvesting system. This will add to build costs but is capable of tackling several water hungry chores including those outside taps for washing vehicles, power hosing, and much more while saving 50% overall on water consumption.
Stored in an underground tank or up in the attic, the water is delivered through a gravity or pressurised system to toilets (35% of household use, by the way) and piped to other points including the washing machine. Excess supply is run off to a soak pit, so there’s no danger of flooding the system. The water can even be filtered and sterilised to the point that it’s clean enough to shower in. The costs of such as system runs from around €1,500 into the low thousands depending on the size and complexity of the build.
Suppliers include RainWater Harvesting Systems Ireland: (www.rainwaterharvestingsystems.town.ie), NuTech Renewables (Kingspan;) and Molloy Precast supplying and installing Aswarain products (www.molloyprecast.com).
Even drowning in rain, for most of us in extant homes, rain water harvesting will be on a minor scale. A water butt fed from a diverted, spliced rain water down pipe, is ideal for all outdoor work and hydrating needs. Rain water can be used to water not only container plants, but siphoned off for borders, vegetable gardens, and even distant tracks of lawn. In a single year, you could collect as much as 85,000 litres just from the roof of the house. If your barrel is kept clean, the water is well suited to washing cars, paths and topping up ponds. Barrels can be even linked together to fill in sequence. A good sized barrel starts at around 190l for something like the Rainsaver from the Eco-store.ie (reduced to €59.95). Collapsible butts allow you to put the butt away for the winter if you choose, and we love the gaily coloured H2UGO that folds down inside its own stand. 200l at €128.99 from www.Originalorganics.ie
Irish supplier Tanks.ie champion a wonderful line in butts posing as everything from ancient terracotta urns to stumps and stone walling.
Prices from €188 for a 275l model. Woodies DIY supply diverters, connectors, and the Hozelock series of water pumps to service the whole garden. €69.99.
Washing up water (with a little washing up liquid) can all be used as ‘grey water’ in the garden in pots and on beds. Avoid using grey water on your edible crops and be especially careful of bleach included in any cleansing procedure.
For the truly committed with poly-tunnels and extensive gardens to support, bath and shower water can also be put on tap with a simple grey water recycling kit added to the sealed mains drainage system.
Grey water should be used as it is produced and not stored for more than 24 hours and it has to be said, the Environmental Protection Agency are not keen on its wide-scale application as there is the potential for it to allow a leach of household chemical to the groundwater.
Prices for a diverter kit start at around €40 and suppliers include www.watersavingproducts.ie
Without a trigger, a hose sends a deluge of water at around 35L per minute that is damaging to the fragile structure of most plants and can drown pots. Moderate and control the flow with a nozzle with different spray settings and ideally a flow regulator. Purchase.ie offers a Water Saving Nozzle with a dial ring to save litres and Euros at just €14.95.
That trade show favourite of a device that hooks a short hose to a bucket and plumbs it to a dedicated washing brush is all you need. Use a watering can or a hose with a trigger spray to perform that final rinse.
Choose less water hungry plants such as lavender, geranium, verbena, poppies, verbascum, campanula and ornamental grasses. Cut back on hanging baskets that require as much as two waterings per day. The lawn will survive all but the most severe drought — consider if you really need a sprinkler system at all. Use the mulch setting on your mower allowing the cuttings to moisten and protect the grass surface.
Gravel gardens can preserve moisture in the ground and support drought tolerant planting. Mulch borders to retain water for longer and water in the early morning or evening where it won’t be evaporated away before going down those vital 30cm.
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