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FEATURE
He says that if the water harvested is to be used for
flushing toilets or urinals, or for an irrigation system, a
booster pump will be needed to give sufficient pressure
to pump the water from the storage tanks back into the
main supply feeding the toilets or urinals.
“For rainwater designs where the water is also used for
urinals and toilets, we include a bypass system where
you can switch it back on to municipal mains. If there is a
system failure, for example a pump stops working, all that
is required is to open your municipal valve and the water
will flow back into the main line again. Both lines need to
have non-return valves. It is also recommended to have
a main domestic water supply feeding the tanks to top it
up when there are high volumes, or in the dryer months
where rainfall is much less. It is quite important that you
have a water bypass system on every installation for
residential and commercial use,” says Brainin.
Domestic installations for
harvesting rainwater.
STORAGE TANKS
It is the norm that where rainwater is concerned,
the storage tanks are placed above ground, but in
exceptional cases, if you do not have storage space
available above ground for the tanks, you might have
to consider placing the tanks below the ground.
Above-ground tanks are typically easier to install
than below-ground tanks because excavation for