And then in times of drought we moan that on such a wet island we seem incapable of storing water for the times when we really need it – maybe it is because we have such a wet climate that for the vast majority of the time we do not to worry about lack of rain and we become complacent. However, global climate change is apparently set to affect the UK by providing us with more extremes, both wet and dry. Water management will probably become more important as time goes on.
The challenge
So what we are looking for here is a way of capturing water when available, possibly even reducing the affects of flooding. However, unlike a reservoir, we don't want to just collect water, we want to be able to move that water into a useful location. Most particularly we want to create system for domestic use, capturing rain water, filtering it enough for commercial or household, non-potable uses and storing it in a water tank at sufficient height to allow gravity to distribute it as required throughout the building.
However, climate change we are often told is a result of the energy we consume, so we don't want to further contribute to this by using electricity-guzzling pumps. So any pumping that is required to lift the water must therefore not require electricity or other such non-renewable energy source.
Given that we are not going to be building eco-houses just so that we can incorporate this system, we are looking for a solution that can be easily and cheaply retro-fitted (and maintained), possibly even by a reasonably competent DIY-er.
We have a system in mind that does all of the above – captures the water, cleans it and shifts it to wherever it is that you want to store it for immediate or future use, all without using any electricity.