ᐅ Rainwater Harvesting Tank: Yes or No, and Which Material?

Uwe82 schrieb:
Retention tank with restricted outflow into a retention basin.

There are so many solutions! However, in your case, the tank is required as part of the infiltration system, not necessarily for rainwater harvesting, right? Personally, I find that a bit unfair. Requiring infiltration is fine and makes sense, but the method should be up to the homeowner to decide (of course following the latest standards and considering local conditions).

No, both storage volume and retention volume are required. In our case, this is probably due to soil conditions, which is why drainage is also mandatory.

However, the regulations also include many other requirements, and they are quite strict.

nordanney schrieb:
That’s cheap. For nearly 10m (33 feet) of drilling plus pump and pressure switch, it cost us about €1,000.

Hello,

we have sandy soil here, so the well could be easily flushed with water. The cost was 250 EUR (excluding VAT) plus a pump for 170 EUR from a clearance sale at a well-known chain store.

Flushing is cheaper than drilling, and in smaller towns, this is sometimes done by the fire brigade for a small donation (yes, I know they are not officially allowed to do this).

I installed the electrical connection myself with a friend.

The well is only used for garden irrigation and anything else outdoors that requires water. All indoor water supplies run through the regular water connection.

Oh, and if you want to let rainwater infiltrate the ground, you can spend a lot of money on an excavation contractor, or if you have a good permeable soil, you can also do something yourself at low cost.

The rainwater infiltrates through rain barrels buried in the garden, some partially filled with stones, or for the largest roof area, simply a 210 L (55 gallons) hollow body. The supply line is made from PVC sewer pipe and drainpipe, so small amounts can already infiltrate before reaching the barrels.

This works very well with our sandy soil, even during heavy rain, and was not expensive.

We have about 400 m² (4,300 sq ft) to irrigate and a 6,000-liter (1,585-gallon) concrete cistern. I would definitely do it again, especially since the costs were quite reasonable. We installed it during the construction work along with the inspection chambers for rainwater and wastewater.