The rainy season is here! With the heavens pouring in, it’s time to think about how to conserve this precious water. If your city gets plenty of rain, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t conserve it. It is a salt-free source that can be used to water plants, wash utensils, clean the floors, and so on.
Look around your home and see if you can incorporate some or all of these water-saving tips. While some of them need a fair-sized investment, many others can be done without burning a hole in your pocket.
1. Store Rainwater in Drums
Store rainwater in drums on your rooftop and in open areas around your home. Or you can build rain gutters on your roofs so that the rainwater can be collected in barrels or drums placed on the ground. Use copper rain-chains to direct the water from the rooftop gutter into these barrels. Remember to close the top of the barrel or add a few drops of vegetable oil to the water, to prevent the spread of larvae. This water can be used for cleaning utensils, flushing toilets, watering plants, and mopping floors.
2. Direct Rainwater Runoff to Plants
You can direct the rainwater runoff from your home structure to the base of plants. It can be used for plants that need regular watering and happen to be in the shade.
3. Make a Roof Garden
Build a roof garden by planting seeds and saplings that need a lot of water. Pick plants that have dense roots and can hold plenty of water. This way you can avoid watering them and watch them grow. You can also move your plants to the roof so that they get all the water and sunlight they need.
4. Set Bowls to Collect Water in Different Locations
This is especially useful if you have pets at home. They’ll get enough water for a quick gulp. Only make sure this rainwater is pure and doesn’t contain debris from runoffs.
5. Make a Rain Saucer
A rain saucer looks like two upturned umbrellas balanced over a rainwater barrel. The saucer forms a funnel through which the falling rain can be channeled into a drum.
6. Place Outside All Items that Need a Rinse
Make sure you make the best use of rains. If your car, bike, toys, or anything else needs a quick wash, put it out in the rain. Wipe them with soapy water beforehand, and let it get washed by the rains.
7. Let Your Borewell Get Refilled Too
Besides extracting water from below the surface of the earth, borewells can help recharge groundwater as well. This is ideal if your borewell has dried out.
You need to build a recharge pit around the borewell, in such a way that it can gather runoff water from the rains. Line the bottom of this pit with filtration material so that no debris goes into the borewell. Next, make slits in the borewell casing, and then wrap the casing with nylon mesh. Place cement rings around the borewell casing and seal the spaces between them with cement. Fill this “false well” with stones. Then, construct a second false well next to the first one, encased with cement rings. Leave this one empty and keep it covered. A pipe connects the false well with the empty well, and during the rains, filtered water flows from the pond to the second well. It enters the borewell aquifer through the slits in the casing and gets stored there.
When designing your new home, keep some of these practices in mind to conserve rainwater. Want more such ideas for your home interiors, read the HomeLane Design Journal. Meet our experts at HomeLane to design your dream home.
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