This site called Plastic-mart.com is where you will find the focal point, as in the key green products, around which you can build a complete eco-friendly system that will show an excellent return on investment of time and money as it not only makes a powerful and positive impact on the environment, but also adds value to your home. Plastic-mart sells poly whatever, let’s just say plastic, storage tanks of all shapes and sizes that work incredibly well for rainwater and gray water collection and storage.
Check out one of their products, a 500-gallon water storage tank: http://www.plastic-mart.com/class.php?item=3354
Why collect rainwater? Rainwater is God-processed and delivered, for free. Tap water requires a lot of energy, chemical processing, and infrastructure to make it potable. Potable water is water that is fit for consumption. Rainwater can pretty easily be rendered fit for consumption, but that is not what this factoid is concerned with. Only a very small amount of the household water we use must be potable. Here’s the rub: We use, unnecessarily, potable water for everything from watering our lawn to flushing our pee/pooh. You wouldn’t pour two liters of Diet Coke into the toilet tank and use that to flush, would you? You wouldn’t take a five gallon bottle of Poland Springs water and water your lawn with it, right? Then why use just as processed, drinkable water for these things? That is wasteful.
What is gray water? This is formerly potable water that was used to do laundry or shower and bathe. Drinkable? Nah, not at this point, but it isn’t exactly sewerage either. Consider gray water as the gray area between potable water and sewerage. National and local building codes have rules and regulations regarding gray water. Understand these to a degree. Then, bend and break these rules where it is personally safe to do so. Regulations and bureaucracy are meant for the common good, many times at the expense of the specific good and the greater good. Use good personal judgment and common sense when determining what you should try to circumvent. The soap (be careful what kind you use) phosphates, minerals, organics, and even the acids that come from a little urine that finds it way into gray water (from those of us who are sometimes guilty of peeing in the shower) are all good for plants, trees and grass. Adding miracle grow fertilizer and just the right amount of chlorine to kill off dangerous bacteria can make this water supply better than potable water and even rainfall. It saves the water treatment plant the trouble of filtering this out and this helps in the same way as keeping garbage out of the landfill.
I built a system like this, from scratch, and installed it in the last house I built. I got to 90% completion before the house went into foreclosure, so I can’t brag about how well it worked and how much money it saved. That is all still theoretical. But plan to save on water assessment, sewer assessment, and in places that ration water use, you will also save the lives of plants, grass and trees! See this Factoid by SamMontana@q.com about that: How to save a dying tree
This factoid is going to be one of the only “teaser” articles I’ve got posted here at Factoidz.com. I’m recommending Plastic-mart as an affordable resource to purchase the center pieces of this green system. These tanks are one of the best green home products you will find. You will need to discover a lot more information before you build a system around this plastic storage tank. Because every location is different, and everyone’s mechanical aptitude is different, I have no choice but to tease with “you should definitely install this system as the first green improvement to your home.” You will need to contact me directly if you want the one-on-one assistance required to design and install this system. We can work out a very reasonable price that will cover consultation, an original design with prints, materials list, schedule, and budget. –probably less than the cost of the tanks! Contact me! Let’s do this!
