How to make a house water self-sufficient

Water is an essential element for life. Without water, we cannot survive. That's why it's important to make sure we have always have access to a clean water source. A water-sufficient house is equipped with a system that collects rainwater and makes it water and make it suitable for domestic use. This reduces water consumption and saves money where water is billed.

A precious resource that will become increasingly scarce

The summer of 2022 was remembered for its exceptional character in Europe: high temperatures, low rainfall, devastating forest fires. Many have become aware of the importance and especially the effects of a rarefaction of the blue gold.

Water is one of the most important elements of life. Every day, we need water to drink, cook, clean and even to breathe. So water is essential to life, but it is also essential to health. Most people are unaware of how drinking water is a drinking water is a source of many diseases. Diseases transmitted through through drinking water can be very serious, even deadly.

The United Nations has been warning for a very long time and has even made the decade 2005-2015 an international decade of action:"Water for Life".  The UN gives figures that show the magnitude of the issue :

• 40% of the world's population, still lacks access to sanitation facilities. Nearly 1.8 billion of these them - 70% - live in Asia.
• In 2006, the world's population was divided almost equally between urban and rural dwellers. However, more than 7 out of 10 people without access to quality sanitation lived in rural areas.
• Every day, 2 million tons of sewage and other effluent are discharged untreated into waterways worldwide.             Source
  

In Belgium, the crisis center has identified 32 key hazards that can cause shortages or other problems related to water supply.

How to Prepare for a Water Self-Sufficient Home

As the name implies, a water self-sufficient home is one that does not require a connection to a potable water system to function. Water-saving water self-sufficient homes are typically equipped

• with a well,
• a rainwater rainwater and/or
• a recycled wastewater system.

If you are considering making your home water self-sufficient, there are several things to consider to ensure that your home will be able to function properly without the help of a connection to a potable water a potable water system.

A water supply

First, you will need to make sure that you have a source of ensure that you have a source of supply:

• if you are fortunate enough to have a spring running through your property, you can dig a well while respecting current legislation and requesting any authorizations;
  
• if you do not have a well, you should consider installing a rainwater tank. water tank. A rainwater tank or cistern can be installed near your home. your home. You will need a collection system that will convey the rainwater that falls on your property to the cistern.

If you are considering a water-sufficient home, it is important to take steps to minimize the risk of minimize the risk of water contamination. For example, if you For example, if you have pets, you may need to consider keeping them away from keeping them away from areas where water is stored or distributed.

Filtering Water

You will then need to ensure that you have a system to filter the water you collect before storing and distributed throughout your home.

Filtration can be done upstream of the cistern. You need to provide features that prevent as much solid residue as possible from getting into the water cistern. This can include screens to put in your gutters, installing a spout or even installing a separator on the downspout. By using these elements, you will prevent dead leaves, animal waste (feathers, droppings) and other things that the wind could have brought to your roof.

Filtration must also be done downstream from the cistern. A pump will draw in the water to distribute it to your home. At the pump's outlet, you must place water filters with various functions:

1. The sediment filter:
   
   The polypropylene sediment filter is used to remove the finest particles the finest particles from the water. These include sand, dust, mud, rust and dirt particles. After the filtration, the suspended particles are no longer visible.
   
   From the surface to the core, the water passes through the filter whose pores become from the outer surface to the core, and the pores become increasingly dense. Thus, the larger particles are deposited on the outside of the filter. particles are deposited on the outside and the smaller ones on the inside of the filter. The pore size of the first level 10" polypropylene sediment filter 10" polypropylene sediment filter of the first filtration stage can be chosen between 100µ - 50µ -25µ or 10µ (micron).
   
   
2. The activated charcoal filter: The activated charcoal has a large surface area which is used as an absorbent, among others, in chemistry, medicine or water and wastewater treatment. water and wastewater treatment. It mainly removes undesirable dyes, odors and tastes. odors and tastes from gases, vapors and liquids. These sintered activated carbon block filters focus on the removal of of undesirable physical-chemical substances in drinking water, for example by water, e.g. via the domestic water system, while at the same time offering a high protection against bacteria, heavy metals, pesticides and pesticides and drug residues.
   
   This filter combines the well-known absorbing powers of of activated carbon with mechanical filtration. In this structure, chlorine and organic substances that taste and odor are filtered and fixed.

Potabilizing the water

These successive filtrations allow you to have water that you can use for common household uses, but in no way does it make it drinkable.

Non-drinking water is a source of many diseases. Bacteria and viruses are in the water and can infect people who drinking the water. Diseases transmitted through drinking water can be very serious, even deadly. Fortunately, there are ways to make water safe to drink. But you should always test the quality of your water to guard against disease.

If you want to be 100% self-sufficient, then that leaves the issue of potabilization.
To do this you have several options:

• A gravity filter: There are filters sold commercially that are very simple to use. You place in the tank of the filter of several liters, the water to be potabilized. As you turn on the tap, filtered, drinkable water will flow out. The most well-known brand of gravity water filters is Berkey. According to this source, the filter has a filtration capacity of 22,700 liters and can last 6 to 10 years!
  
• A filter jug: these filter jugs come in various sizes and capacities.
  
• Reverse osmosis.
  

Calculating the size of the rainwater tank

It is very easy to determine the appropriate size of a tank. When planning, simply take into account local rainfall, rainwater requirements and connected roof area.

To calculate the right size of a rainwater harvesting tank, distinguish between using rainwater for home and garden and using it for garden watering only. Those who opt for a home and garden rainwater use system naturally have a proportionally higher need for rainwater. Overall, householders can use rainwater for flushing the toilet, washing machine, cleaning rooms, car maintenance and watering the garden.

You need to consider:

• the volume of precipitation;
• the roof area that allows rainwater to be collected;
• the roof material (a varnished tile allows more water to be collected than a more porous material;
  
• your consumption (depending on household size).

In determining the size of the cistern, it is assumed that a safety reserve of about 22 days is sufficient to deal with possible periods of drought. Therefore, the smaller number of rainwater yield/rainwater requirement is multiplied by 0.06 (22 days/365 days).

Independence and flexibility

The experience of being self-sufficient, whether electrically self-sufficient or water self-sufficient, gives a sense of freedom. It allows one to no longer be dependent on exogenous factors for its supply.

In addition, even if 100% autonomy is not achieved on an ecological level, it is interesting to preserve the precious resource of water.

A water autonomous house has many advantages, particularly in independence and flexibility. Indeed, such a house independent of the public water network does not need to be connected to it. need to be connected to it. Moreover, it is equipped with a filtration and purification system that allows the production of drinking water from any source, which makes it perfectly adapted to rural or perfectly adapted to rural or isolated areas. Finally, a house Finally, a water self-sufficient house is less expensive to use if the water is billed.