Rainwater Harvesting

What Are the Benefits of Harvesting Rainwater?

The recent heat waves and droughts seen throughout the UK this year (and the potential for more in future according to the Met Office), many are looking for alternative ways to save water.

There are numerous benefits of investing in a rainwater harvesting system aside from helping during periods of drought, including:

• Save up to 50% of an average household’s water consumption. Even a smaller water tank can drop the amount you pay in water bills by 25%
• A rainwater tank and system is quick and easy to install.
• Access to free, clean water that’s free of chemicals as the water is passed through a filtration system.
• It’s environmentally friendly.
• Decreases soil erosion.
• Lowers flooding risk.
• Great for managing lakes and rivers – lowering pollution.
• It reduces strain on aquifers and ground water sources.
• Water from a rainwater storage tank is exempt from hosepipe bans, so long as they aren’t connected to your property’s mains water system.

Investing in a rainwater harvesting system makes environmental and economic sense.

What Are the Uses of Rainwater?

The uses of water saved using rainwater harvesting kits seem endless. Just a few include:

• Garden watering – use it for watering plants including edible gardens (take a look at our garden rainwater harvesting systems).
• Filling up garden ponds or refilling domestic swimming pools.
• Washing your car (non potable systems).
• Flushing toilets (non potable systems).
• Pump the water to your washing machine (non potable systems).
• Commercial businesses can use water harvested from their building towards gaining credits for BREEAM compliance (although this does depend on additional factors so we recommend exploring this further).
• The water can be used during hosepipe bans so long as they aren’t connected to your mains. This is great during heat waves where there are droughts coupled with hosepipe bans.

Is Collecting Rainwater Illegal in the UK?

While there are rules in other countries, it’s perfectly legal to harvest rainwater in the UK. However, there are conditions and rules that needs to be followed.

If you’re planning on using the water in the following ways, you won’t be required to apply for a water abstraction license:

• If you’re planning for the rainwater to be pumped or harvested into a reservoir without any being combined with other water.
• To utilise rainwater that hasn’t ‘entered’ groundwater or inland surface waters.
• To use the harvesting system for irrigation rather than a source of water supply.
• If you’re planning to use the storage as irrigation in a reservoir with an overflow (so long as the reservoir is only filled by water sourcing methods under this licence.

With that said, there are some situations where you need to obtain an abstraction license. This includes if you’re combining harvested rainwater with other sources and pumping it into a reservoir storage system to be sent to any of the following inland waters:

• Licenced water from another source
• Gravity intake
• Underground strata
• Land drainage
• Any watercourse.

You can get full information on this from the Gov.uk website.