Water for home use

[Russell Kanning]

I like what the http://www.earthship.org guys do for collecting and using water.

http://www.earthship.org/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1090228158&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&

The western code of water use is, "Use it or lose it." As we become more adapted to the high desert, the new dicho will be, "Catch it, use it, reuse it, and reuse it." Water supplies are limited, especially in the desert. The future is limited by existing water claims and commitments. All of New Mexico's surface water is committed. The only water supply not fully developed is our ground water. Water conservation is one of the few alternatives for finding and securing water supplies for a growing population.

Communities designed to be completely off the grid, using no ground water, are the future. Mike Reynolds has been designing and improving self-sustaining family dwellings and communities for 30 years in Taos and around the planet. These communities require no power, water, or collective waste and utility systems. In fact, the first and only approved utility-free subdivision in the developed world, The Greater World Community, exists west of the Rio Grande Gorge High Bridge.

The Greater World Community is 633 acres with about 50 people in nearly 30 homes, but has a potential capacity of nearly 325 folks when 130 proposed Earthship dwellings are completed. Currently there's a single water well, used solely for fire protection now. Fifty-five percent of the subdivision is held as "open space" in a conservation easement.

Mike continually tries to improve the efficiency of dwellings and communities by decreasing their dependency on utility infrastructure. Reynolds' home designs incorporate a broad array of conservation strategies, technologies, and materials.

Earthships use passive solar orientation. The homes' north sides are set against earth embankments with prolific greenhouses oriented to the south. The dwellings use photovoltaic technology and battery storage for energy independence. With a propane water heater and optional generator back-up, current yearly utility costs run about $47! Compare that to most Taos County residents, who pay more than $1,000, and commonly twice that, for heat, electric, water, and wastewater utilities. The savings should be factored into the cost of the home.

Water supply strategies begin with rain collection. Propanel roofs provide for 1,500 sq. ft. or greater catchments; call them metal micro watersheds. The average annual rainfall on the Taos Plateau is approximately seven inches, even during drought conditions. For nine inches of yearly precipitation, one square foot of roof yields three-quarter cubic inches per year. A 2,000 sq. ft. roof would harvest 5.5 times 2,000 or 11,100 gallons of water per year. Considering an Earthship's four water reuses, this equals a conventional consumption of 44,400 gal. per year.

The key to this strategy is to provide enough storage space to collect the short term but intense high-desert rains that often occur during our (so-called) monsoon season. The roofs are trimmed and guttered into a cistern pre-filtered to remove sediments and debris. From here it is stored in 1,400-gallon capacity cisterns concealed in the earthen embankment on the flanks of the homes.

The next step in "Earthship Water Strategy" is reusing the water until it is completely consumed through personal uses and via plant matter. The Reynolds' strategy's four water-reuse phases increase the water's value and service by a factor of four. Water consumption through conservation decreases demand by a factor of four.

The collected soft rain water is gravity-fed to a pump and processed through a series of bacteria filters to produce drinking and sanitary water. Once the water is used for these sanitary household needs—drinking, bathing, and washing—it becomes "grey water," which the Earthships run through a grease- and particle-digesting filter.

From the degreaser, the water is run through 30-inch deep, plastic-lined greenhouse flower beds, to be used by mostly adapted decorative plants, which further filter the water of microorganisms. Fruit plants are also an option for indoor use. A few Earthships have productive banana trees.

The water is collected again at the low end of the flower beds and run through a peat moss filter. From there, the twice-used water is collected and run through a charcoal filter to be pumped up to the toilets. This is the second reuse of the grey water, and the third overall use.

After using grey water for the toilets, it becomes "black water." When flushed, it goes out to solar-enhanced septic tanks, called incubators, and is then leached into another plastic-lined exterior planter bed for outside landscaping. These tail waters, or leaching products, are ideal for growing grasses, scrubs, and rushes. This the fourth use of the rainwater.

The entire system has valves, so that all wastewater has the option of flowing directly into the septic system. Valves at the outlet of the septic tank allow flows to go directly to a conventional drain-field.

Average captured water of 20 gallons per day per person, reused four times, is the equivalent of an 80 gallon per day average water consumption. New Mexico state residents use an average of 65-135 gallons per day for personal consumption. The national recommendation is 55 gallons per day. The United Nations international minimum standard is approximately 12 gallons per day, for drinking, sanitation, and bathing—free of micro-organisms and toxins that may threaten health.

The Reynolds' Earthship water strategy and savings are considerable. The system seems to be dependable even during high desert drought. The Greater World Community's single water well (for fire protection) has yet to be used for drinking water. Not many modern developments can make such a claim. If all new dwellings in Taos County were as efficient, our precious aquifers and ground water might go much farther.

Taos County approved this subdivision by permitting a series of progressive variances. The county took a risk, but the benefits appear to be encouraging. Mike is now attempting to pass legislation that would support research and development incubators (livable test sites) for renewable resource communities proposed throughout New Mexico.

If you have more questions about Taos County renewable resource initiatives, call Mike Reynolds at Biotecture: 751-0462.

Please keep the water questions coming: Ron Gardiner at gardiner@laplaza.org.

[SpeedPhreak]

There is an earthship not to far from where I live (not sure exactly where)... I would like to visit it.  They use all the same systems described in this arcticle.  From the website of the builders they stayed in the Taos earthships & built them as close as the could to them (building codes & such).

I know it's probably not a problem in NH & isn't as big a problem in colorado... but why wait for to become one?  Most homes could probably be retrofited for atleast a grey water system & new construction should incorporate them as well.  Personally I don't know if I would go as far as the earthship guys but rainwater collection for landscape & consumption should be heavily considered.  Not to mention you won't have to pay as much, if anything to the "man".

[Russell Kanning]

In NH we get lots of rain and we don't have to water things. But it could make sense to catch rain anyways.

[Lloyd Danforth]

That's water you don't have to pay to pump hundreds of feet out of the ground.

[Russell Kanning]

absolutely

catching it from the sky will be even easier in The Shire ... than say Taos, NM. We won't need as much clean surface area.

We also don't need water for watering the grass.

[Quantrill]

I'm surprised that more people don't collect rain water for personal use.  It's easy to have a container (even one of those plastic 55-gallon drums would work) sitting on a stand with some type of screen over it (to keep bugs out).  A hose runs from the bottom of the barrel to the inside of your house (or not).  This is free water and requires no work on your part except the initial effort.  This is how a buddy supplies water at his hunting cabin. 

Some people just use their gutters to divert the water into a drum sitting on the ground.  This would be even easier, though you couldn't run water into your hose without some type of pump...

[SpeedPhreak]

I'm surprised that more people don't collect rain water for personal use.  It's easy to have a container (even one of those plastic 55-gallon drums would work) sitting on a stand with some type of screen over it (to keep bugs out).  A hose runs from the bottom of the barrel to the inside of your house (or not).  This is free water and requires no work on your part except the initial effort.  This is how a buddy supplies water at his hunting cabin. 

Some people just use their gutters to divert the water into a drum sitting on the ground.  This would be even easier, though you couldn't run water into your hose without some type of pump...

Several houses (even some upscale ones) on a trip to Mexico revealed many people have a system just like this... though I suspect they have their water trucked in & filled (this is the dessert) & use the cisterns to give running water w/out connecting to a utility.

[Lloyd Danforth]

There is a way of constructing a downspout so that the first X minutes of rain, and, presumably, crud sitting on the roof, is diverted to the ground, and then changes to deliver water to the barrel or cistern.

[Russell Kanning]

cool

[Ron Helwig]

There is a way of constructing a downspout so that the first X minutes of rain, and, presumably, crud sitting on the roof, is diverted to the ground, and then changes to deliver water to the barrel or cistern.

More details please!

Also, recommendations for winter would be nice. I know my gutters froze up, and I was thinking of wiring some sort of heating system for next winter.

[Quantrill]

Heaters for gutters!  That's a new idea to me.  In the A/C biz you'll often find a compressor that has a crankcase heater wrapped around it.  This heater is basically a metal band with 120 V current going through year round.  This is just enough heat to keep the compressor from freezing.  You could probably rig up something like this around your gutters and it would be easy to install an on/off switch (could be manual or temperature controlled).  You'd probably want to make sure it's properly grounded.

I think Ragnar Benson talked about the downspout idea in one of his books.  I don't remember exactly but I believe it's a see-saw type contraption...

[cathleeninnh]

I see people around here removing gutters in the fall.

Cathleen

[Lloyd Danforth]

Sounds kinda labor intensive. Gutters can be a problem in winter.  A roof with no gutter and that 18 inches of flashing you see along the eves of many houses is probably the best bet.

[Pat McCotter]

There is a way of constructing a downspout so that the first X minutes of rain, and, presumably, crud sitting on the roof, is diverted to the ground, and then changes to deliver water to the barrel or cistern.

More details please!

Also, recommendations for winter would be nice. I know my gutters froze up, and I was thinking of wiring some sort of heating system for next winter.

Raychem Gardian makes a heat trace you can use.

[Russell Kanning]

Sounds kinda labor intensive. Gutters can be a problem in winter.  A roof with no gutter and that 18 inches of flashing you see along the eves of many houses is probably the best bet.

I totally agree. It would kill me to heat up my roof to melt ice/snow.
I don't like gutters.