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| MAKING THE MOST OF A RECLAIMED RESOURCE |
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Harvested water that has been properly filtered and stored can be recycled into a number of uses. Regulations in some states and municipalities restrict the uses of harvested water and should be carefully checked for compliance before a system is designed.
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| TOILET & URINAL FLUSHING |
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While it seems almost a shame to use carefully collected and stored rainwater or greywater to flush toilets, this important use of harvested waters can make a significant reduction in the use of potable water purchased from your local utility.
Toilets and urinals consume as much as 40% - 60% of water purchased for a typical office building. By supplementing or eliminating this wasteful use of potable water, “green” buildings not only reduce their municipal water bills, but also contribute to conserving a valuable, limited resource in our environment. The filtering and sterilizing steps included in the Water Harvesting Solutions systems turn greywater into clear, clean water, making it highly suitable for toilet flushing.
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Using harvested water to flush toilets |
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You can get a rough estimate of how much water your building will require for toilet flushing using our .
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| LANDSCAPE IRRIGATION |
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Harvested rainwater is often used to irrigate landscaping. What could be more natural than carefully saving excess rainwater to water plants and lawns around a facility? This use of harvested rainwater is particularly effective in areas that experience brief periods of heavy rainfall followed by days without any rainfall – such as geographies where thunderstorms are a primary source of rainfall.
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The normal priority for using greywater is almost always first to flush toilets in a building. This is due to concerns about residual chemicals that may reside in greywater and their potentially harmful effect on plantings. Some communities ban landscape watering outright using greywater - or require thorough purification and testing of the water before it can be used. When topical application of greywater is not permitted, subsurface irrigation almost always is acceptable. In this case, the water is distributed in drain fields similar to a septic system. Either way, this ensures 100% usage of greywater, reducing the impact on the municipal water treatment system and supporting the recharging of local aquifers.
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Using harvested water to irrigate lawns |
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Systems designed and installed by Water Harvesting Solutions can meet the purity standards for water quality of any community where properly prepared greywater and rainwater are legally permitted for landscape irrigation.
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| OTHER APPLICATION FOR HARVESTED WATER |
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Depending on the building’s location and function, other uses for the harvested water may be considered. During the Consulting Phase, Wahaso can help assess the most effective approach for managing the supply and demand of harvested water for any project.
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Cooling Towers - Cooling towers can be large consumers of water – 40% or more for a typical office building - and are an excellent use of harvested water. A typical commercial building with an evaporative cooling system can used 2-3 million gallons of water in a season to "make-up" water lost through evaporation and the "blow-down" cleaning cycle.
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Using Harvested Water in Cooling Towers |
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Boiler Make-Up - Boilers in a commercial building can consume thousands of gallons of water per day. Harvested water can serve as "make-up" for water lost in the heating cycle.
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Fire Suppression Systems – Commercial buildings with can easily have 100,000 gallons or more of stored harvested water that can be readily available for an automatic fire suppression system or as an additional water source for pumping trucks in the event of a property fire. This stored bulk water could be especially important in communities with inadequate water pressure or water main capacity.
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Industrial Applications – Buildings for water-intensive industrial use can also benefit from water harvesting. These buildings frequently have large roof and parking surface areas with a significant potential for capturing and harvesting rainwater. Even if the harvested water is a relatively small percentage of total use, it application can be part of an overall effort to reduce the building’s impact on the environment.
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Clothes Washing – Harvested water may be useful in buildings doing large quantities of laundry – such as a dormitory or correctional facility.
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