Multiple Waters Study, Co. Carlow

This project focused on developing a living water lab to explore domestic water use within households in Co. Carlow.

Multiple Waters Study, Co. Carlow

This project focused on developing a living water lab to explore domestic water use profiles within households  in Co. Carlow. The project involved monitoring the components of household water use and the design, installation, commissioning and monitoring of rainwater harvesting facilities.

Design Water In..... Reusing, recycling and recovering water

The term Circular Economy of Water (CEW) refers to a water supply model of production and consumption which aims to create a series of closed loops by eliminating waste streams and reusing and reclaiming used water. We can summarise this approach as “Design Water In” – where we maximise the reuse of all water on site before transporting off site to reclaim valuable resources embedded within the used water stream.

Project Information

Meters were installed to monitor public mains water supply, toilet flushing, hot water, cold water supply to taps and water supply to kitchen. Daily household water use profiles were generated.

A second study involved the design, installation, commissioning and monitoring of rainwater harvesting facilities.

A monitoring program was carried out to examine the physico-chemical and microbiological quality of the harvested rainwater. Harvested rainwater was sampled monthly and tested.

rainwater harvesting carlow

Water Flows within the RWH process

Rainfall on the roof flows via a series of gutters and downpipes through a filtration system. The treated harvested rainwater flows to the rainwater storage tank. The harvested rainwater is delivered to the attic rwh tank. A back up water supply to the rwh attic tank is provided to meet rwh demand during periods of insufficient rainfall. This back up supply system uses a Type AA air gap to prevent cross contamination of potable water supply.

Quantity: Rainwater harvesting supplied 100% of WC demand reducing the household mains water demand by 20%.

Quality:

  • EC Quality of Bathing Water Regulations for 100 % of samples
  • Drinking Water Regulations for 37% of sampling dates.
  • Experiments showed disinfection potential of hot water system.


Cost
: The cost of water supplied from the rwh system >>> mains water costs.

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