[Greenbuilding] Living with a rainwater cistern (was Re: hot water)

[Lawrence Lile]

A friend has a new, well made cistern that avoids the whole cat tea problem.  A metal roof drains into gutters which go through a large (maybe 12" diameter?) screen into an otherwise sealed underground tank.  I don't know the tank material, didn't' ask him, but I suspect it is lined concrete.  A pump pulls water out of the tank and runs to a basic cartridge water filter, then a rather largish RO filter, and a UV illuminator (in what order, I did not investigate).  What comes out, regardless of cats, is very pure sterilized and filtered water.   None of this stuff is homemade, it is all good quality commercial equipment.  I also didn't ask what it costs, obviously a lot.

This isn't a wimpy little undersink RO system that supplies a cup a minute - it is the big brother of that system that can fill a little pressure tank and provide a shower.  



--Lawrence Lile, 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org [mailto:greenbuilding-
> bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of bill.allen at verizon.net
> Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 12:18 PM
> To: ArchiLogic at chaffyahoo.ca; Green Building
> Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Living with a rainwater cistern (was Re: hot water)
> 
> Great story!
> I'll probably put a top on mine:-)
> Bill
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RT <ArchiLogic at yahoo.ca>
> Sender: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
> Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:06:17
> To: <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Reply-to: ArchiLogic at chaffyahoo.ca,
>  Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Subject: [Greenbuilding] Living with a rainwater cistern (was Re: hot water)
> 
> On Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:52:26 -0500, <bill.allen at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> > I'm in the middle of the woods and was thinking about a rainwater
> > harvesting system instead of drilling a well.  Can anyone comment pro or
> > con on RWH systems, especially for drinking water?
>