How many of U are willing to recycle the water that runs down your gutter or building gutters?
Question by Daniellr: How many of U are willing to recycle the water that runs down your gutter or building gutters?
I’m not exactly sure where in India, but I heard that there was a city of about40,000 people that had a drought problem. They reused the rain water on their crops and land and have undergone great change for the better. It took about 8 years for the entire community to participate. Could you imagine if the whole United States can accomplish something like that?
Feel free to answer in the comment section below
26 Responses to How many of U are willing to recycle the water that runs down your gutter or building gutters?
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cant b bothered
ryseesdg
January 4, 2014 at 3:04 pm
I would totally participate if I could afford it, or if there were a program supporting it here in the states.
manda p
January 4, 2014 at 3:11 pm
i would. we all should.
fifilapoo114
January 4, 2014 at 3:23 pm
I would do it
more_music_33
January 4, 2014 at 4:19 pm
I have used bathtub water, and dishes water to water my plants – inside and outside. Besides watering the plants, it keeps the insects away.
bin there dun that
January 4, 2014 at 4:51 pm
Here in the UK it is common practice for people to save rainwater in butts for use on the garden, and to use old bathwater to water plants.
In my home country of Greece, many of the islands would simply run dry if we were as wasteful with water as Americans are.
the_lipsiot
January 4, 2014 at 5:37 pm
Rain?
ooohhh I remember, thats when water falls from the sky. It doesn’t do that where I live now
startrektosnewenterpriselovethem
January 4, 2014 at 6:10 pm
I am from the UK and had four ‘butts’ around my house to collect rain water which I subsequently used to water my garden, wash pathways, rinse the car Etc. It is certainly something that needs to be considered here in the USA but where to start would be the problem, perhaps Government buildings could have underground wells fitted or similar.
lovelifelikeabrit
January 4, 2014 at 7:09 pm
I would. Here are some sites I found that might help anyone that wants to start doing this: http://www.rainbarrelguide.com/ http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg0517332129145.html
You can buy containers for this purpose, one of the above sites shows pictures of some of these.
Thanks for posting this, I hope it get many doing this.
Diane
Diane L
January 4, 2014 at 7:49 pm
We live here in Maryland and we recycle as much water as possible. We use the water from the dehumidifier in the basement to water plants and trees, we have huge trash cans at our downspout drains, right now I empty the dishwater on the plants and trees. We are planning on devising a way to pump the bathwater out into a receptical instead of the septic system. We have replaced our old toilet with the newer model that uses only 1 gallon of water to flush and it does a wonderful job. Every little bit helps, and maybe it won’t take 8 years for our community to change, or should I say – for those who will change to change!
sewunkown
January 4, 2014 at 8:04 pm
That would be awesome… I’ve been hearing more about people using the water from their dehumidifiers too, to water plants, etc. There are so many no to low cost things we could (should!) be doing!
Sue B
January 4, 2014 at 8:35 pm
Beginning the process is easy. Buy a water butt and install it under one of the downspouts and use the water for plants.
Don’t pour water used for washing/peeling veg. down the sink but strain the peelings etc out of it for your compost and use the water on the garden.
Don’t tarmac/pave the front garden as a car park but use gravel etc which allows the water to soak into the ground not run into the drains.
There are various schemes to reuse bath water for the loo etc but all involve considerable expense.
Oldman
January 4, 2014 at 9:17 pm
I’m from Maine and my husband and I already do that. We have large rain barrels with spigots in the bottom at the four corners of the house. When the sun comes out, it warms the water, which shocks plants less when watering. If we want to make compost tea, we just drop a pillowcase full of compost into the barrels. We have a well, but this works better. The only thing is that we have to make sure there are Mosquito Dunks in the barrels, or they become a breeding ground for a bumper crop of mosquitos.
liselle2
January 4, 2014 at 10:10 pm
PERMACULTURE ANSWER
In Spain and Portugal,water is harvested from the roofs and stored in underground sisterns dating back to the Moorish ocupation ,
Here in Mexico we collect the rainwater in our school for sustainable agriculture which is way in the sticks ,but it is too near Acapulco to trust the rain water for drinking ,and this holds true for most places ,so we use it for irregation.
this water used to be Ok in times gone by before Airpolution ,
Today i would recomend it only for washing and irregation
The concept of Water harvesting is very old ,the central and South American indigenous people had this idea coupled to their pyramids ,cathing the water of the slopes and leading it into tanks or onto the fields .
As did the Egyptians ,Moors, Arabs and probably many more
Only Modern Man is totaly extravegant with the rain water given ,and complains of the wetness ,letting it run off into the rivers lost forever ,With out even attempting to hold on to it .
And then later complains of not having water ,when times are dryer
WHY SHOULD WE HARVEST WATER
because there is so little that we can use
——————————…
25% of the planets surface is land
75%of the surface is water and it is rising
——————————…
97%of the Earths water is salt
fresh water is only 3% of all the Earths water
most of it is beyond out reach
now much ice is melting and running into the seas fresh water lost for ever.
STORAGE or Location of % of the fresh water
ice and glaziers 74%
groundwater 800 meters + 13.5 %
groundwater less than 800meters 11.o%
Lakes 0.3%
soils 0.006%
Atmospheric in circulation 0.0035%
rivers 0.03%
frozen land or permafrost is not included and represent an unavailable storage of 40%
so of the 3% about 11.6 ,is easily available to us ,in rivers, lakes and ground water surface aquifers,more and more of this is becoming contaminated
overpopulation of an extra 70 million people a year (increasing all the time )and expanding agriculture ,which uses 70% of available potable water supplies ,has brought the good(sweet) water suplies to critical levels ,some countries have been in trouble already quite a while .
now climate change and desertification because of irresponsible agriculture ,overgrazing and deforrestation is damaging world fresh water production .
it is a good reason for concern and if we do not rectify matters by changing agricultural methods ,reforrest ,stop deforrestation,become more economic with water use ,stop producing more people ,stop wasting and contaminating water, we will be in serious trouble all round
and could end up looking like Mars
and these are some of the things we can do
EFFICIENT WATER USE
IN THE HOUSE
one can connect the sink straight to the toilet sistern and so use the water twice ,first to have a shave and then to flush the toilet
also if you bend the ball valve you can regulate the level of the sistern
and always have your grey water and black water seperate
so that the sink and shower water goes directly into the garden saving on irregation and at the same time ,making the sewage smaller and easier to deal with ,this also goes and iregates the garden but via a sitern of two compartments and a french drain ,on which you plant trees,
ON THE LAND
economic systems of irregation like drip irregation
and design using a lot of stone walls ,that condense water in the night
and planting leafy plants for the same purpose
building wind breaks ,to counter act the drying effects of the wind and farm towards agro forestal ,using as many trees as posible to limit evaporation .using shade nets before we have tree cover
and use MULCH
by cutting down the weeds before they produce seeds and leave them where they fall,they will cover the ground and put even more organic matter on top,you can use saw dust,leaves green or dry,and when you plant make a little space and plant in the mulch.this is the easiest quickest and by far most benificial way(for the quality of you soil)to prepare the land for planting
to prevent weeds from coming all you have to do it turn out the lights,you can even use cardboard or black plastic(this is good for strawberries because they will rot if they touch humid ground,and the bugs can get to them).
mulch is the same principal as compost but it includes the whole garden surface
the top part of the soil where the topsoil is being produced houses a world or microbiotic life.
Mulch is organic material green or dry that covers the ground,the thicker the better the composting process will turn it in to black topsoil
the humidity is preserved underneath and promotes the devellopment of worms(their exists no better compost than their excrements)and a variety of micro biotic life which together with the mulch produce more topsoil.
the mulch also keeps the ground temperature even and guards against the impact of the rain ,which would other wise brings salt to the surfave if on unprotected land
Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out because of the sun and,
WATERHARVESTING
As far as catching rain is concerned ,we do this all the time ,and have done so already since Babylonian times,and is a part of the more advanced Agriculture,that existed with the Egyptians,Central ,and south American indigenous peoples,and many others ,today we call this water harvesting.
In Permaculture the rule is to harvest water to the point of Zero runoff.
this means that all of the rain that falls on an area is absorbed by the terrain and not a drop leaves it.
by building dams,ponds or swales, with interconecting ditches,
if there are enough of these ;the places ,where before the rain water ran over the ground into the rivers and on to the sea ,(in a matter of hours or days),It now runs into absorbant dams or swales and saturates the ground and eventually reaches subteranean water deposits ,taking many months to do so.
Or it fills up ponds that can be used for Aquaculture.
And so a convex situation that repels water is transformed in a concave ,absorbant one and turning the area in to a sponge.
in Spain and Portugal ,which still display many examples of the conquering Moorish influence,One can find many remnants of Waterharvesting,such as aquaducts and tanks underneath the patios ,which collect the rain water from the roofs ,to be used in dryer times.
in Arabia ,on a large scale ,land has been shaped to catch and lead,rain water into sandy areas or to agricultural lands.sand is almost as good as dams because it absorbs water and holds it.
WHAT IS PERMACULTURE
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ai6ECrNJzhVQNaZQGofN9nLsy6IX?qid=20070621234541AAcarVJ
byderule
January 4, 2014 at 10:47 pm
Rain barrels are an easy way and I also use cisterns to store for irrigation. Saves so much!
Holdon
January 4, 2014 at 11:01 pm
The whole water butt idea should be in all homes and are not used enough in the UK……………….All new build homes should only be built with reguards to energy but they are not.The high level of new build in the UK has been a badly missed opportunity to SAVE THIS PLANET……….
musicmrst
January 4, 2014 at 11:14 pm
panama is the country that does that to.just think of all the rain. washington state gets in a yr. you do the math lol.
joe S
January 4, 2014 at 11:33 pm
I would support it, But it would cost billions of $ $ to set up piping to everyones house to collect the water & store it. Even if someone wanted to have their own storage tank, You would have a problem with stagnet water sitting in the tank and also filtering it. Also even where to put such tank.
bigfuzzysquirrelsnuts
January 4, 2014 at 11:36 pm
I think its a great idea but how do you do it? i have alot of gardens and i live in the city so that would probably save alot on my water bill!!!!
Ciara F
January 4, 2014 at 11:54 pm
Fitted a tank under the deck, fitted a gutter to a roof and now have 2000L of water to use, took 3weeks for the tank to fill and that was from condensation on the roof (we had no rain). total cost, sod all, got nearly all of it from people that just wanted to get rid of the clutter from their places,
riggertroy
January 5, 2014 at 12:22 am
Here in Australia we already do a lot of this, especially in the country. In the last few years we have become much more aware of the need to catch our rain run off. Even some big companies are just starting to get behind this idea and installing tanks. The company I now work for is looking at and has just installed tanks at a couple of their new stores in the northern part of Australia. The waters used for drinking, fire sprinkler systems and supply water to its gardening sections. I’m not sure what else though. but a lot more still needs to be done. We’ve taken our water for granted for to long. Some governments do give incentives by the way of rebates. But hopefully one day everyone will look at utilizing their rain run off. I’ve heard that there’s a fairly new suburb north of Melbourne Victoria that recycles every drop of water. When the area was designed they planned for it then. What waters not caught in tanks for drinking etc. is caught in a man made lake for watering etc and gardens are watered by treated waste water that’s piped through different colored taps for the garden.
Ducky
January 5, 2014 at 12:40 am
I do it to a certain extent. I put out buckets when it rains and then use it in my garden for my veggies.
hippiemom53
January 5, 2014 at 1:28 am
We already do!!! we bought an old barrel from a local vinegar factory and installed all the bits for collecting and using the water….not bad for less that $ 20.
It would be amazing if that happened in any developed country as it would mean more than just collecting and conserving water….those that ‘have’ don’t seem to appreciate what it is they have or how to properly use “it”… Talk is big but action is better.
hiphop
January 5, 2014 at 2:02 am
I seen on, ask this old house, a water barrel attached to a down spout to collect rain water, which was later used to water the garden and lawn. Do anyone know where to obtain free barrels or water catching containers?
coffee4jah
January 5, 2014 at 2:36 am
They don’t allow individuals to save the water here. They say it is an eyesore to the public. Isn’t that nice? Looks before enviornment, who can figure that out?
Breezey
January 5, 2014 at 3:26 am
These guys are doing it in Los Angeles
gymnastics_twisters
January 5, 2014 at 4:22 am