When they turn the water off up in Steynsrust road, it takes a while before us blokes at the bottom of the hill notice. During that time the water pressure drops. I cannot rely on pressure from the city side. I could fit a one-way to prevent backfeed. Some water meters already have that built in. Again, I’m not sure I want to rely on that either.
I do have a one-way at the pump to prevent accidentally feeding utility water backwards through the pump into the tank.
My supply comes out the bottom where all these things gather.
Also drank from the garden hose and as a child and still do to this very day in fact. Because for the time being Pta at least has Blue Drop status… if that’s anything to go by these days.
My issue is mostly as alluded to by you, the dirty impurities in the air in our cities which finds its way into the raindrops. I’ll be happy if I could just send it through a very basic filtration device.
For the Cape peninsula is there normally enough annual rain to fill even the largest tank storage system you may have?
Here were I am in the Southern Cape I can’t get the tanks not to overflow. We get avg. rainfall throughout the year.
I can fill a 1000 liter tank in 15 minutes of hard rain, but it will take 2 days of soft rain to get the same done. It all depends on your roof area. I don’t have all my roof space plumbed into a tank. In fact I only have a quarter of the main roof into a tank.
And technically it is easy enough to calculate. We get on average 350mm per annum, depending on precise location of course (which is actually the same as the Gobabis area in Namibia, so if you ever wondered what kind of area the Western Cape is… there it is). 1mm of rain is a liter scattered over a square meter. So multiply 350 by your roof area, and that’s how much water you can harvest.
CoCT has a sliding scale that they charge for water. You pay double when you exceed a certain consumption.
Is there anyone who uses the cheap quota every month and then switches over to stored rainwater?
Well, the thing is that storing water is all good and well for personal use. I can easily see how you collect enough rainwater for all your household needs. However, if you want to maintain a garden (large relative to your catchment area) or have a swimming pool (even with a cover), you might not be able to reasonably store enough water.
Swimming pool. Easily 2000 liters a month… and I don’t have a very large one, and it is covered (although it is covered with a kind of thick shade-netting, so there is room for improvement).
Before I back filled the pool, the cover I had on it, made it pitch black underneath, had no water losses at all. Had to pump some water out if it rained a lot.
Because of the cover, I could close the pool for months, no chemicals no circulation (pump), with crystal clear water still inside.
And if you wanted to take a quick dip at night, lift part of the cover, the water being “hot” for about 0.5m-1m deep. Bliss.
But o man, if you plan to take the cover off daytime, better I pre-treated the pool with chemicals, running the pump, starting a few days before … or it goes green with 24-36 hours.
I use the same type of cover. Flexible PVC. Effectively makes the pool a “Jojo”. However, the issue I have is that the cover, probably due to dogs running over it, has many small holes appearing on it. The moment there is a hole, you actually start losing a lot of water through evaporation. So we try to keep it patched, but it is quite the chore.
While I really like the cover, it cost about R6k and seems that it will have a lifespan of 5 years depending on the sun it gets. Friends of ours have theirs much more exposed to sun and it starts to break around the edges where it doesn’t rest on the water. They also get the small holes, but also have dogs, so theory could still hold.
Didn’t think they were that expensive. I cant justify it for something that will last a year or three
Not that it will necessarily work for everyone’s circumstances, but R5k gets you a 5000L water tank which will probably last 20 plus years. But yes, much more storage space in the pool obviously.
Without the dogs running over it, will probably last much longer. It also save you an immense amount of chemicals. I barely put any in.
Just to ask the obvious question did you perhaps investigate installing a borehole and to use ground water before going the rainwater storage route?
I’m in the middle of that process now… 
I have a saltwater pool, and so far the same appears to be true. Hardly have to touch a chemical. Occasionally you need to bring the PH down a bit, but it has literally been a year since I had to do anything other than add a bit of salt.
The chlorinator cell though… that needs cleaning. Every 6 weeks they say. I get by with less, but that’s a messy job. And that cell needs replacement every few years, and they are around 3.5k for the guts, 6k for the whole thing…
You pay for it one way or another.
I started with a farm dam (river water) and flocculant, my water was high protein and chocolate in the transition stage.
Moved onto rainwater for drinking, much better, clearer, medium protein, only used the river water for bathing - much better, but sometimes I had to ration, and it got a bit dodgy at the bottom of the tank.
Sunk a borehole, expensive, but IF you hit deep and sweet water it’s worth it.
It is a risk, I don’t think I’d do it if I had a municipal supply, that wasn’t an option.
In the same situation, I’d do it again.
I still wouldn’t waste rainwater, use it on the garden. But it still has things that move in it.
The advantage of the dirty river water is you couldn’t see the things move.
You are in Ireland, right??
Yes, nearly twenty years now, but this experience was in SA.
Hi Louis, If you do not want your pump to stop start frequently we now have a dual level Eduan float valve as well as a 40mm version if you need massive flow. See www.eduantek.co.za