Hello everyone,
We are currently working on building our single-family house. The building application has been submitted, and we promptly received the first letter from the building authority stating:
Rainwater must generally be infiltrated or directed into a nearby open water body, as long as this is possible without excessive effort and damage (§ 48 b Abs. 3 WG-BW).
After a phone consultation with the building authority, we were told that rainwater is not allowed to be discharged into the sewer system due to water protection zone III. The proposed solution (if you can call it that, as they basically said “there’s no way around it”) is a cistern. Permeable paving was also mentioned for the driveway, although we’re not sure what that is for. There is no water body nearby, by the way.
We had actually considered a cistern for watering the garden but excluded it due to the cost. Now we are being forced to install one despite the financial strain, so I have a question for you.
There seem to be countless types of cisterns (according to Google). Can you tell me which type would suit our purpose and where it’s most important not to cut corners?
Kind regards
We are currently working on building our single-family house. The building application has been submitted, and we promptly received the first letter from the building authority stating:
Rainwater must generally be infiltrated or directed into a nearby open water body, as long as this is possible without excessive effort and damage (§ 48 b Abs. 3 WG-BW).
After a phone consultation with the building authority, we were told that rainwater is not allowed to be discharged into the sewer system due to water protection zone III. The proposed solution (if you can call it that, as they basically said “there’s no way around it”) is a cistern. Permeable paving was also mentioned for the driveway, although we’re not sure what that is for. There is no water body nearby, by the way.
We had actually considered a cistern for watering the garden but excluded it due to the cost. Now we are being forced to install one despite the financial strain, so I have a question for you.
There seem to be countless types of cisterns (according to Google). Can you tell me which type would suit our purpose and where it’s most important not to cut corners?
Kind regards
I have also connected all downspouts and my air source heat pump to a cistern with a capacity of 8 m³ (8,000 liters). This works very well for us during the summer months. When the cistern is full, the excess water is drained into an underground soakaway. I would definitely do this again. I installed a concrete cistern. It is supplied by a Berlin-based wastewater technology company.
nokapito schrieb:
The rising water prices are definitely making more and more people reconsider the additional costs of a rainwater harvesting tank. As I said, we initially decided to skip it, but it increasingly seems like it might actually make more sense than, for example, a carport :-/. What reference price are you always using? It often sounds like a rainwater tank costs $10,000... What capacity are we actually talking about here? It's probably just a three-digit amount, so it can’t really be compared to a carport and the like. Get a display model from the hardware store (that’s what we did) and you can save a lot. It’s not life-or-death, just a simple rainwater tank 😉
This is how I did it back when I installed my geothermal ring trench.
The advantage is that the brine pump operates a bit more efficiently.
You don’t even need the concrete shaft rings for this type of setup, but it depends on the soil conditions.
By now, everything is buried deep underground.
I just made a note of where the shaft is located under the lawn, because I didn’t want to see the cover.
The advantage is that the brine pump operates a bit more efficiently.
You don’t even need the concrete shaft rings for this type of setup, but it depends on the soil conditions.
By now, everything is buried deep underground.
I just made a note of where the shaft is located under the lawn, because I didn’t want to see the cover.
W
WilderSueden17 Mar 2022 15:30nokapito schrieb:
Can you let the water from the downpipe flow out openly like that?You probably could, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You’d be directing all the water near your foundations, and with clay soil it won't drain well. The purpose of permeable paving is simply that the driveway isn't sealed, so rainwater can still soak through.nokapito schrieb:
Is it really that simple? How do you get the water from the roof into it? If it drains slower than the water flows in, won’t the downpipe fill back up?You’d install a pipe. The opening has to be large enough to prevent water from standing in the pipe constantly. I haven’t done this myself (we are required to have a rainwater tank), but I read about it in gardening books. Another option is just to set up rain barrels, which can collect regular rainfall even without a rainwater tank.nokapito schrieb:
We don’t know what kind of soil we have yet (we were always told that soil surveys are done only after the building permit / planning permission is approved).Try calling your local authority; they should have a soil survey from the area development. That should be sufficient for evaluation. If you plan to build a basement and have clay soil, definitely check if you need to build a waterproof concrete shell (“white tank”). If that’s the case, soakaway or infiltration on your property is usually not feasible.Similar topics