Category Archives: Water

Six Reasons to Harvest Rainwater

Posted on by
2

This is a guest post written by Amy Lizee from Environment911.org:

Rainwater harvesting is not something that is new to society. In fact, “the oldest evidence of roof catchment systems date back to Roman times. Roman villas and even whole cities were designed to take advantage of rainwater as the principal water source for drinking and domestic purposes since at least 2000 B.Cs” 1

However, as society developed and evolved, the use of rainwater become less and less. Although individuals in the agricultural segment use rainwater to grow their crops and feed livestock, it has been almost completely forgotten in the urban setting.

While rainwater harvesting can be a complex process with high-tech systems, it can also be a simple barrel with a secure lid. Regardless of which form of catchments you choose to use, switching to rainwater provides many benefits to yourself and the environment.

6. Provides a healthier source of water

Rainwater is a naturally pure source of liquid. As it has not gone through any municipal treatment centers or filters, it remains free of chlorine, pesticides and dissolved minerals. This makes it a very good option especially for individuals on low sodium diets or any one with weak immune systems.

5. Water conservation and reducing water demand

Individuals who use harvested water are playing a part in water conservation, which is one of the most important environmental concerns of today. Although the majority of the Earths surface is covered in water, only 2.5% is fresh water and fit for consumption. Of this, “1.6% of the earth’s fresh water is trapped in glaciers and polar ice, which leaves less than 1% in our lakes, rivers and streams for human consumption”. 2

By harvesting rainwater, you are using less municipal water and thereby, reducing your urban consumption. In turn, you are also reducing water demand by removing one home or part of a home from the urban water plate.

4. Supplement municipal water in time of low availability

Linking to the first point, in times of drought or low water supply, homes that harvest rainwater are able to supplement their regular water source during droughts and low availability or even during storms and power outages.

3. Can be used to divert rainwater to toilet flushing or other functions

Not all homes harvest rainwater for the purpose of drinking and bathing, but luckily there are many other areas in which rainwater can be a useful supplement for municipal water sources. For example, rainwater can be harvested and used for lawns or gardens, agricultural fields as well as flushing toilets or doing laundry. Many people don’t realize how much water these daily activities can take up. In fact, “landscaping, laundry and flushing toilets account for up to 75% or more of fresh water used in the average home”. 3 By switching some of your regular activities to rainwater, you will reduce your urban consumption as well as your carbon footprint.

2. Reduce storm drainage loads

This is perhaps the single most important environmental effect of harvesting rainwater. Since a storm drain lacks a filter, untreated storm water often finds itself in varies bodies of water. This has a huge impact on our environment because some of the most common storm drain pollutants included: motor oil and fuel, litter, paint and paint thinners, household cleaners and fertilizers. All of these pollutants affect wildlife and many of them do not breakdown naturally. So, by reducing storm drainage loads, pollution is declined, thereby reducing the impact to our natural plants, wildlife, rivers, streams and oceans.

1. Save money

The usage of water in your home requires energy, which we pay for. When you reduce the usage of urban water in and around your home, you are also reducing the energy costs associated. In some cases, this means a 35-40% savings on your annual household water bill! If the environmental and health benefits didn’t get you, I am sure this one will!

“All the water that will ever be is, right now.” – National Geographic, October 1993

Now that you are aware of the benefits to rainwater harvesting, I am sure it seems like a much more colorful option then it did before. While switching over might seem like a big change, the benefits far outweigh any negative impact.

There are hundreds of ways that we can save the environment each and every day, but all of them require change in the way we do things and the way we view the world around us. By taking what Mother Nature has given and using it in its most natural form, we are connecting to nature and protecting it for future generations.

Environment911.org is an interactive website for individuals to come and discuss the environment from green business to natural disasters. We feel it is important for people to come together and share their thoughts, ideas and visions for the future. The more we can communicate what is happening in our world, the more people can be educated and the more we can progress. Beyond Environment911.org you can find us on Facebook and Twitter where we are continuing to spread the message about our global environment and the impact that we have on it every day. www.environment911.org

1) http://www.crd.bc.ca/water/conservation/outdoorwateruse/recycling/harvesting.htm
2) http://www.gutterdoc.ca/rain-water-harvesting/
3) http://www.tieswithnature.ca/rainwater-harvesting/rain-water-benefits/

Aquaponics Tanks

Posted on by
2

When I think of an aquaponics tank I normally think of a rectangular container, which is like the aquaponics plant tank I built for myself, but take a look at these plant ‘tanks’, which are made from PVC tubes instead:


Photo by Kanu Hawaii.
These plant tanks, or plant grow beds, take up very little space and evaporation losses are very small. The nutrient rich fish water flows through the tubes providing the plants with what they need.

A whole wall has been covered with these plant tubes and connected to large aquaponics fish tanks:

Photo by Kanu Hawaii.
The fish in my system are also pet fish and live in an ordinary aquarium, so that you can see the fish, but I don’t think the fish actually care whether or not they’re able to look back at the people watching them. And if that’s true you might as well dump the fish in a big black plastic container as shown in the picture above. Just remember that black surfaces absorb energy from the sun and  heat up.

An aquaponic system can be installed anywhere, like for instance right next to a restaurant or hotel to secure an extremely fresh supply of herbs and vegetables:


Photo by Kanu Hawaii.
The system I built is based on an ebook called Aquaponics 4 You that originated from Hawaii (formerly known as Ultimate Aquaponics Home System) and the University of Waimanalo in Hawaii is experimenting with aquaponics too. Take a look at one of their neat plant tanks, with floats and net pots installed, standing on top of a few layers of cinder blocks:


Photo by Kanu Hawaii.

The area is packed with aquaponics tanks, and a solar panel would be a very convenient way of driving your water pump in an outdoor aquaponic system:


Photo by Kanu Hawaii.
Some kind of marquee placed above your tanks would be a good way to protect your crop against the weather if it’s necessary:


Photo by Kanu Hawaii.
When you’re building a system and looking for aquaponic supplies you can benefit from all the hydroponic containers on the market already. The large white tank below is from genhydro.com but all the pipes and fittings you could ever dream of is probably also available from the existing hydroponic retailers:


Photo by Kanu Hawaii.
I grow my aquaponic plants in coconut fiber but many people use LECA balls instead (Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate) – then you won’t need floats and net pots:


Photo by Kanu Hawaii.
Here’s another system installed under a large polytunnel cover, with an artificial fish pond beneath the plant pond:

Photo by Justin Leonard.
The next system has three layers – two layers of watercress beds and a 120 cm deep fish pond (4 feet) at the bottom. The beds are 120 cm wide (4 feet):


Photo by Justin Leonard.
The water circulates slowly through PVC pipes and the watercress filters the water for the fish:


Photo by Justin Leonard.
You can throw as much money as you have at an aquaponics system to keep improving it, but with very little money and reused materials you can get a cheap system up and running. The most expensive part is probably the pump but in small systems it shouldn’t take long to find someone who has a spare that you can have for free.


Photo by hurricanemaine.

Aquaponics Plant Germination and Algae Eating Fish

Posted on by
2

This is a box I have set up for plant germination of my aquaponic plants:

The red plastic plate under the lid is just for ventilation to provide oxygen for the seed germination process. I’m using 2 and 3 inch black plastic net pots (5 cm and 7.5 cm) for the aquaponics system, and I’m sowing directly into the net pots:

There are very few nutrients in the coconut fiber material so when the seedlings develop their first true leaves I move them into the aquaponic plant tank where the water is filled with nutrients. This is a good thing about an aquaponics system; you don’t have to replant your seedlings with risk of damaging the roots.

In the beginning I kept a journal of everything I sowed with a serial number on every pot, but it takes a long time to update and since I haven’t got that many different plants in the system I can usually see right away what type of plant I’m dealing with when the seedlings appear, so I won’t be updating the journal anymore. I’ll just focus my energy on getting a truckload of plants through the system instead ;-)

The fish in the aquarium connected to the plant tank are thriving. The interior of the tank is beginning to look like a natural environment, although we’re experiencing some really nasty looking algae, with a green synthetic like color. (If you know something about algae classification, please leave a comment below this blog post).

Fish tank and algae pictures:

But the fish seem to be okay with their artificial environment and fortunately they’re algae eating fish.

They’re pumping out fry, actually the third litter in one month. These are some of the blue acara fry, out of a litter of about 200(!):

The plants in the plant tank are doing well too. This is flat leaved parsley stretching for the grow light:

This strawberry plant did provide us with a few strawberries, and sent out a runner which I replanted in a new pot, but then it started to wilt:

I don’t know what happened – I’m sure I gave it enough water. (Get it?… enough water – in the aquaponics system?… Oh I crack myself up sometimes).

But then there’s the chives:

These are the workhorses in the system at the moment, with really long roots, and lots of them.

Note that both the strawberry plants and the chives are from the nursery where they were started in soil, which makes it hard to transfer to an aquaponics system, but we had to get some plants into the plant tank to clean the water for the fish as they where going into the aquarium no matter what. Or, at least Charlotte had a very good opportunity to buy tropical fish of the type she wanted at that particular time.

Both runner and bush beans are growing fast when they are plugged into the aquaponics system:

This is a bush bean type – runner beans are not practical in this particular system as the growing height above the plant tank is limited to 50 cm (20”) because the plant tank is placed just below the ceiling. I’m expecting a good yield from the bush beans and I’m looking forward to seeing the results. It seems like they are growing really well and we haven’t even done any adjustments of the pH value yet.

I can’t help dreaming about a nice big backyard aquaponics system, but after all it’s probably wise to get the basics right before scaling up the system.