# Roof rainwater system ? My water bill is #*!



## gibbsgirl (May 1, 2013)

So, yesterday, my dad took two of my sons to the corner store and ran into some G-man doing work. Long story short--the guy told my dad that he's working on the county water/sewer system. He says they have to redo quite a bit of the infrastructure. The result of which will be within 3-4 years our water/sewer rates will jump to 4-5 times what they are now- to finance all this!

Yeah, well my whole, let's get off the city water/sewer plans just got moved up on the list of **** to do.

Anyway, at this point, we've got 7 people using between 130-150 gallons a day. Would still like to lower that water useage further. But, have decided I really should start looking into water cache systems.

Would appreciate any info or links anyone could share about complete systems or explaining DIY (with pics, I usually don't get what they're talking about without pics). Not sure I want to buy a whole prefab type system, but I thought it would help me sort of visualize and understand this more.

So far, my best friend, google has really only showed me sites and videos that seem to be more commercials for stuff.

Thanks.

BTW, 5 yrs ago our water bills were about $12 for every 1000 gallons, now they're almost $20 per 1000 gallons. How's everyone else's rates? I'm in SE Indiana.  Anyone else stumble across "you're about to get your rates jacked" news in their area?

PS, the per 1000 gallon rate is about 1/3 water and 2/3 sewer charges.


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## jackie in ms (Apr 30, 2013)

where are you? do you get a lot or little rain? can you get those 300gal plastic metal caged whatever they're called things? if so, try to get the food container ones, i got one for $50. a screen is a must if you get water from your roof, very fine & cleaned often if you have shingles. also think about catching your laundry waste water it's great for dirty jobs, flushing toilets, cleaning tools, washing vehicles & even watering the garden (you will get 100s of posts about using it on the garden both for & against). also remember that gravity only works when going down, so you will need a pump for anything in the other direction. hope this helps
jackie in ms

PS: look on prepper sites


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## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

Hi,
Some DIY water harvesting projects here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/Water.htm

I'd read through the Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting -- free download, and first thing listed at the link above.
It will give you a rundown on all the water collection issues, and also allow you to size a system that has the right collection area and storage tank size.

Systems that collect water for irrigation or non-potable water uses in the house are pretty straight forward, but potable water systems are more difficult.

Gary


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## larryfoster (May 15, 2009)

Most public systems require you to pay whether you use them or not.
At least a minimum amount


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## partndn (Jun 18, 2009)

My town went through the upgrading infrastructure and treatment stuff that caused increases. Many of the town made a huge deal of it and how terrible the rates would be.
It actually wasn't that bad. They shouldn't have added and annexed so much for development and the impact wouldn't have been so heavy.

Fortunately in my home, only me and my son.. our bill runs 40-48 bucks. It used to be maybe 38-42 bucks.

My next door neighbor however, with 6-7 people in the home, routinely has bills of 180-200 dollars. 

Oh, I meant to add 2 guys on youtube with lots of knowledge on this, systems, etc. Are you anywhere near South Carolina? That's where they are.
engineer775
southernprepper1


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

30 years ago I put in a gravity fed spring system ( no pump ) to the house, and a septic system in the yard. The initial cost probably ran couple thousand, (it was 30 years ago) and we haven't paid a water or sewer bill since.

Maintenance has been:

1. Pumped septic tank once about 7-8 years back, $150, it didn't need it, and I'll never do it again.

2. I replace a filter ( about 8 bucks ) on the water system once every 3-4 months, and a UV light bulb once a year. About 100/yr total.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

We are not urban, instead we are rural. Our township has no water or sewer system. Everyone is on wells.

We have no water bill.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

ET1 SS said:


> We are not urban, instead we are rural. Our township has no water or sewer system. Everyone is on wells.
> 
> We have no water bill.



But you do pay for power, and maintenance on the pump.

Generally, that works out to less than a water bill ( as in my case ), but rarely is lunch free.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

TnAndy said:


> But you do pay for power, and maintenance on the pump.
> 
> Generally, that works out to less than a water bill ( as in my case ), but rarely is lunch free.


When I was shopping for land, I considered a few places where there was a stream that could have fed our house.

Since this is a region that is not drought-prone, there is no reason to think that such streams would ever go dry.

As it is, the land we homesteaded on has very shallow water. 

Today we are on-grid, by the end of the year, we will be off-grid.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Composting or sawdust toilets save a lot of water and grey water systems reduce wastewater discharge costs.


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## gibbsgirl (May 1, 2013)

fishhead said:


> Composting or sawdust toilets save a lot of water and grey water systems reduce wastewater discharge costs.


Thanks fishhead! Do you have experience with either of these? Toilet/greywater?

Our sewer bill is actually calculated based on how much water we use. I looked into getting a separate meter for outdoor water use, cause then you don't have to pay the sewer charges, since none of it goes down the sewer. But, the cost of getting it set up and the monthly fees was prohibitive. Nice deal for the water company!! Made me really mad, cause where we used to live, if you put up a pool, the water company would remove the sewer charges for the pool filling. That saved a ton of money, and really it was legit cause the water didn't go to the sewer! But, here they won't do that.

I just bought two books from amazon to read up about the toiletstuff. We have low flow dual flush toilets, but I tried to add up how much we use them and I think it IS a pretty good % of the overall household water use.

PS the two books I got are "The Humanure Handbook" and "Holy S**t". Have skimmed through and read a little. They look good. So, I'm planning to spend some time reading through them more carefully, to figure out what/how to try it out.


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## Allen15 (Apr 18, 2013)

You might want to look at 2 more books specifically on water storage & greywater recycling/re-use.

The New Create an Oasis with Greywater: Choosing, Building, and Using Greywater Systems by Art Ludwig
(Oasis Design, 2006. 8.5x11, 145 pages, 53 figures, 130 photos. ISBN 0964343398)

and also:

Water Storage by Art Ludwig
(published by Oasis Design. 2005. 8.5x11, 125 pages, 43 figures, 128 photos. ISBN 0-9643433-6-3)

You may be able to find them at various places on the 'net, like Amazon, etc., but you can also find both of them at www.oasisdesign.net too, and I've found them to be invaluable for information & education on becoming water independent.

There are a few other useful books from that same publisher and also from the same author that might be useful, but those are the main 2 for water security. There is a downloadable e-book on DIY water quality testing and if you have to suffer through code compliance, there is also a Builder's Guide to Greywater systems that might help too.

I also have and have read the Humanure book by Jenkins too & it's a must-have for a serious off-grid homesteader.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

gibbsgirl said:


> Thanks fishhead! Do you have experience with either of these? Toilet/greywater?
> 
> Our sewer bill is actually calculated based on how much water we use. I looked into getting a separate meter for outdoor water use, cause then you don't have to pay the sewer charges, since none of it goes down the sewer. But, the cost of getting it set up and the monthly fees was prohibitive. Nice deal for the water company!! Made me really mad, cause where we used to live, if you put up a pool, the water company would remove the sewer charges for the pool filling. That saved a ton of money, and really it was legit cause the water didn't go to the sewer! But, here they won't do that.
> 
> ...


Except for an occasional use not much experience. There are people on this board that do use them as their main toilets.

I do route my clothes washing water to an abandoned septic tank.


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