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About Rainwater Harvesting

Posted on by Rob Cooper

Rainwater harvesting is the collection and storage of rainwater that would otherwise flow down gutters into the drain. Rainwater is collected from the roof, then re-used within the home and garden. This can provide substantial savings on water bills, as well as making your home more sustainable.

Rainwater can be used for all outdoor uses: watering the garden, washing cars, cleaning patios, drives and windows, topping up swimming pools, ornamental ponds and hot tubs. With some plumbing alterations, it can also be used inside the house to flush toilets and feed washing machines. Besides saving on drinking water use, rainwater use encourages less build-up of calcium deposits in appliances. The diversion of rainwater to the storage tank can in many situations attenuate flooding.
The principle uses for rainwater are:

  • Toilets (around 35% water use)
  • Washing Machines (around 15% water use)
  • Garden/Outside Use (around 5%, yet this figure can grow greatly for keen gardeners)

According to the Environment Agency, each person in the UK uses in the region of 150 litres of drinking quality water every day. Around half of this amount need not be drinking water. This means water has gone through an energy and carbon intensive process of filtration, chemical treatment, and pumping from miles away, just to flush down a toilet or water the lawn. This is clearly a waste of our resources. By installing a rainwater harvesting system you will do more than help protect the environment:

  • Reduce water bills by around 50%.
  • Increase chances of your planning gaining permission. (Planners often favour environmentally friendly applications.)
  • Provide your garden with water during a hose pipe ban.
  • Reduce flood risk. Rainwater harvesting acts as part of a SUDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage System).
  • Provide your home with soft, lime scale free water for washing machines and toilets; helping to prevent breakdowns and reducing the amount of detergent needed.

Yes! Your garden prefers rainwater to mains water because it does not contain the chemicals needed to make mains water drinking quality.

In recent times many areas have had hosepipe bans, banning the use of hosepipes for watering gardens and cleaning cars. New legislation will give water boards the right to prohibit using hosepipes for other outdoor cleaning purposes such as washing boats, patios, drives, windows, and also for filling swimming pools, ornamental ponds and hot tubs.

With a rainwater harvesting system installed, you will be able to continue using your hosepipe as long as the water is rainwater.

Yes! Typically you will save around 50% on your current metered bill. If you are keen a gardener or have large water requirements, the savings can be even higher. Depending where you are in the country, some annual water bills are now averaging over £600 per year. Some of our customers in the South East of England have reported water bills of over £850 per year.

Absolutely. Domestic rainwater harvesting systems filter the collected rainwater very heavily, and water is stored below ground where it stays at a constant, cool, temperature and away from light. This means it is practically impossible for any bacterial action to occur. Collected Rainwater stays perfectly clean, clear, and odourless in any properly installed and maintained system.

Yes, all water boards have to install a meter at the request of the householder. Installation is free, and some boards provide the meter as well. Some water boards insist on installing a meter with change of ownership, and sometimes, in tenancy of a property.

Rainwater harvesting acts as part of a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS.) In heavy rainfall the tank fills first, then should the rainfall continue, the tank will overflow into a soak-away. This takes stress off public storm drains.

Water can be boiled and treated with UV filtration to make it drinking quality, yet this typically is only economically viable where occupants are off grid and have no mains water source. Within a normal system, rainwater is classed as non-potable or non-drinking water by UK water regulations. This means it cannot be used for applications where there is human contact (such as drinking, bathing and cooking).

Gravity Feed System

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Our innovative low energy rainwater harvesting system, specified to
nearly all customers when a small header tank can be situated in a loft
space.

The system works by pumping from the underground tank, through a control unit, into a Smart Header Tank within the loft space. Water is then gravity fed to toilets and washing machines.

The Rain Director® has huge benefits over traditional systems. Most systems start and stop the pump every time the toilet is flushed, meaning the pump cycles 15-20 times per day.

The Rain Director® uses 6-8 times less energy than a traditional system by completely filling the Smart Header Tank, then not using the pump again until the Smart Header Tank is empty.

This reduces pump cycles to around 1-2 per day, and therefore greatly reduces energy consumption and pump ware. Should rainwater ever run low in the underground tank, the system automatically registers and delivers mains water directly to the Smart Header Tank.

This means your toilets will work in every eventuality- low rainwater, pump failure or even power cut. The system also features intelligence such as a “Mains Water Mode” to divert the home onto mains water, so rainwater can be conserved for the garden if hosepipe bans are being introduced.

Unlike any other gravity feed system, the Rain Director® also features a “Holiday Mode” recycling the water in the loft space every 3 days to prevent stagnation.

• Low energy system 6-8 times less energy than other systems
• Provides water in every eventuality- low rainwater, pump failure or even power cut
• Fully WRAS Approved
• Intelligent user functions
• Prevents water quality issues/stagnation
• Reduces pump ware
• Silent operation
• Plumber friendly push-fit connections and installation guide

Click Here To View Our Underground Gravity Feed Systems

Direct Feed System

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Our rainwater harvesting direct feed system is designed for the home owner to collect, filter and store rainwater within an underground tank for both domestic and garden irrigation purposes.

Rainwater is classed as non-potable, allowing water to be used for toilets and washing machines. Together with garden use, this equates to around 50% of a domestic water bill.

In this system, water is fed directly from the submersible pump in the underground tank to each appliance.

Due to the submersible pump featuring pressure sensitivity, whenever a toilet is flushed, the pump will register a drop in pressure, then pump until the cistern is full and automatically switch itself off again.


Should the rainwater tank ever run dry in drought periods, the system is provided with a mains water backup – the Rain Backup in a Box®. The system uses a level sensor in the tank to open a solenoid valve within the control unit toallow around 200L of mains water to enter the tank.


The mains water back up device used in our direct feed system is designed to deliver a small amount of mains water to ensure all domestic appliances are kept fully functioning during times when the underground rainwater tank has insufficient water due to lack of rain fall.

The size of tank for direct feed systems range between
1500 to 7500 litres.

Sizing of the tank depends entirely on your usage and the level of drought protection you require for your garden.

Please call either Rob on 01733 405103 or Ian on 01733 405104 and we will calculate the size of tank you require.

Click Here To View Our Underground Direct Feed Systems

Garden Systems

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Our rainwater harvesting garden system is designed for the gardener to collect, filter and store rainwater within an underground tank for all garden irrigation purposes.

A must for serious garden users, providing invaluable relief during hosepipe bans as well as reducing water bills.

When stored underground and filtered effectively, the rain water captured remains clean and fresh. The only visible part of the system is a lid at ground level, so no aesthetic appeal of your garden is lost.

Included in our garden system is our British manufactured HydroForce™ submersible pump. This can easily deliver 3.5 bar pressure, making it suitable for high pressure sprinklers, garden watering, car washing, and even pressure washing. The pump features pressure sensitivity, making it start when water is demanded, then automatically shut down thereafter. This means there is no switching the pump on and off after each use.

Rainwater harvesting systems are simpler and more cost effective than ever to install. Shallow dig tanks have dramatically reduced digging effort and the amount of earth removed. Systems have evolved to become simple and efficient to operate.

• Garden system to run sprinklers, hoses, irrigation systems
• No space taken up by ugly water butts or tanks
• Automatic pump operation
• Soft, chlorine free water giving plants optimal growing conditions
• Improve sustainability and reduce water bills

Click Here To View Our Underground Garden Systems

Water Provider Incentives

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Water provider incentives- save up to £722 per plot.

What is it?

Anglian Water and Severn Trent have launched schemes to incentivise water efficient new homes.
The saving is provided through free or subsidised infrastructure charges. (The fee to connect to mains and drainage networks.)

This can save up to £722 per home.

Both schemes apply only to new build homes where a new connection is required.

How can I apply?

Both schemes require a water calculation to define how much water will be used within the home. You will need to know the following:

•    Roof area
•    Location
•    Occupancy
•    Rainwater Harvesting use (toilets, washing machine, garden.)
•    An idea of taps, toilets, baths, showers, dishwashers that will be used.

By using a rainwater harvesting system your development should easily meet the required criteria. During specification, our sales team can assist with this calculation process.

Once the water saving criteria can be displayed, results can be sent to the water provider for the waiver to be confirmed.

More information – Anglian Water.

“If a new home uses innovative technology such as rainwater harvesting and water efficient showers, which help the occupants to reduce their consumption to 100 litres a day, then we will discount the infrastructure charges for that connection. Currently, that means a discount of £722 per connection for dual service areas.”

Full information from Anglian Water Click Here

More information – Severn Trent.

Developments must show that they have built to 110 litres or less of water per person per day they could get a 100% discount on the water infrastructure charge.

You can also qualify for either a 75% or 100% discount on the sewerage infrastructure charge by showing  that a surface water connection is via a sustainable drainage system (such as Rain Activ) or that there is no surface water connection at all (using a soak away).

Full information from Severn Trent Click Here