Hello everyone,
We are actually finished with everything. The house is built, and the cistern is connected. However, it seems there are fees related to the overflow of the cistern if it is connected to the sewer system. Since I will need an excavator again for the landscaping, I might consider installing an infiltration chamber.
The only question is: how large should it be?
The roof has a footprint of about 100 m² (1,076 sq ft). The cistern holds 4,500 liters (1,189 gallons). What rainfall amount should I expect? How do I properly integrate the cistern, or should I expect that in the worst case it will always be full and overflow?
Best regards
We are actually finished with everything. The house is built, and the cistern is connected. However, it seems there are fees related to the overflow of the cistern if it is connected to the sewer system. Since I will need an excavator again for the landscaping, I might consider installing an infiltration chamber.
The only question is: how large should it be?
The roof has a footprint of about 100 m² (1,076 sq ft). The cistern holds 4,500 liters (1,189 gallons). What rainfall amount should I expect? How do I properly integrate the cistern, or should I expect that in the worst case it will always be full and overflow?
Best regards
We have a cistern located between the roof area and the infiltration system...
Report it? The meter reading is done by the local authority... In our case, the municipality installs a dedicated water meter (sealed) on the cistern line automatically, so you don’t need to worry about it. When they come to read the water meter, they also read this meter...
If you keep it undisclosed (which would only be possible afterwards, even though you are required to register it since rainwater use for household purposes such as toilets and washing machines must be declared in the building permit / planning permission), it will cause problems... In our area, unfortunately, you have to pay a wastewater fee on the water you use from the cistern because it is discharged as greywater through the toilets and washing machines into the sewage system leading to the treatment plant.
Report it? The meter reading is done by the local authority... In our case, the municipality installs a dedicated water meter (sealed) on the cistern line automatically, so you don’t need to worry about it. When they come to read the water meter, they also read this meter...
If you keep it undisclosed (which would only be possible afterwards, even though you are required to register it since rainwater use for household purposes such as toilets and washing machines must be declared in the building permit / planning permission), it will cause problems... In our area, unfortunately, you have to pay a wastewater fee on the water you use from the cistern because it is discharged as greywater through the toilets and washing machines into the sewage system leading to the treatment plant.
D
Doc.Schnaggls17 Mar 2015 16:02Illo77 schrieb:
In our case, unfortunately, you have to pay a sewage fee on the extracted water because you discharge it as wastewater from the toilet and washing machine into the sewage system leading to the treatment plant.Why "unfortunately"?
This is actually a very common practice – you pay the standard sewage fee for the amount of water you discharge into the treatment plant.
If this were not the case, everyone else would be partly paying for your wastewater, which wouldn’t really be fair, right?
Doc.Schnaggls schrieb:
Why "unfortunately" though?
This is a completely normal procedure – you simply pay the usual wastewater fee for the amount of water you discharge into the treatment plant.
If this weren’t the case, everyone else would be partly paying for your wastewater, which really wouldn’t be fair, right? No, it’s not like that everywhere, even if it sounds logical. In some regions, it is encouraged this way to increase the appeal of installing such systems (since the savings otherwise hardly justify it). In some municipalities, the rainwater discharged into the sewer system is only partially charged or not charged at all (according to companies like Graf and Hacon that supply cisterns; I only know of one region near Wetzlar where this is the case), for example, with a fixed free allowance per cubic meter or half the cost. Regarding garden water, you also have this with drinking water used outdoors… Some municipalities consider a water meter installed on the outdoor faucet sufficient for offsetting, while others, like ours, require an additional water meter to be installed in the supply line to the outdoor faucet.
By the way, the municipality initially wanted to install the rainwater meter behind the pump, that is, between the pump and the withdrawal points (toilet/washing machine/faucet). But then, when the cistern is empty, drinking water would have been measured twice because the pump draws drinking water from a separate tank when the cistern runs dry. So, it took convincing the officials first by phone, then by email, and finally on-site that the rainwater meter must be installed in the suction line between the pump and the cistern.
Since adding another water meter in the outdoor faucet line would involve additional cost (it also has to be a calibrated meter installed by the municipality), for example, we use a submersible pump in the tank for lawn irrigation, so the outdoor faucet is not used.
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