News / rainwater harvesting

Although the main benefit of having a water kit is to save water in summer, to water the lawn, veg patch and flowers. They do have some benefits in the autumn and winter months when there is a lot more rain.

Firstly, if you have a water meter installed, you will want to use the mains taps as infrequently as possible, to save money. So, you can use the water in your water butts to fill buckets to hand-wash the car, or for mopping floors, cleaning greenhouse glass panels, patios etc.

Another more communal benefit, is how it can slow the flow of water going down drains during periods of heavy rain, which can increase flood risk, and also use of sewage outflow pipes into rivers. (During high rainfall periods, these pipes are used to prevent waste water backing up pipes.) 

An Olympic swimming pool holds 2.5 million litres of water. If 6,300 homes , of a small town, all installed a 200 litre water butt double kit, (400 litres total), it would save 2.52 million litres from going straight into the drain network, during a heavy downpour. With an Olympic swimming pool worth of water saved in the water butts, this could lower the risk of some local flooding, and reduce the use of a nearby sewage outflow pipe into the river.

200 litre water butt double kit, available to buy here;

https://www.gardenis.co.uk/products/200-litre-water-butt-kit-double-200-litre-water-butt-kit

Image - Wiki creative commons / Kallerna

I was just thinking earlier that it doesn't seem to have rained that much this winter, and also there seems to be a lot less wind. Where I live in Northumberland, It's always breezy (or gale force!), a still day is a rarity in autumn and winter. However, unless I am just imagining it, there seems to have been a lot of very still days and nights. No windy sounds over the roof at night.

Although, further north than the rest of England, it doesn't rain that much, like Cumbria to the west. The summer drought map showed the eastern half of the country was yellow regardless of whether it was north or south, and the west was greener. However, there is still plenty of wet days in winter, but this year it doesn't seem to have rained much. 

I just did a search in the news section, and there is a report from Norfolk, stating that, there might be hosepipe restrictions this summer, if it doesn't rain more soon. North Norfolk News 9th Feb 2023 - 'Data on the water authority's website shows reservoir storage is below target for this time of year, being 80.6pc full, and groundwater sources are said to be ‘below normal’.'

Last summer it went crazy with orders, when the govt announced a drought in parts of the country. After just a few days I had to stop selling for weeks (unfortunately), as the manufacturer was trying to keep up with making new ones, and these are not eggcups, they are big and bulky, and take time to move about warehouses, and the country. So, if you are considering getting water butts this year, my top tip is to order now or early spring, when it is a lot quieter, rather than wait until the grass is brown, the news is talking about hosepipe bans, and there is a big wait for delivery slots.

After a very busy late summer due to the drought conditions, the water butts are available again. The 200 litre double kit (400 litres in total) is the bestseller, and had to be put off sale for a while, to clear a backlog of outstanding orders. Everything is almost back to normal, so it is back on sale now, along with the 227 litre size, which had been out of stock.

If you are thinking of getting a water butt sometime in the coming year, please, if you can afford to, buy it over the autumn and winter. This is a quieter period, so deliveries are generally faster, and you can get it all set up for spring. Every year, everyone waits until it is summer, then orders, and this creates longer delivery times, as too many people order all at once. As you can imagine, a drought being declared in August, with hosepipe bans, made this a much bigger problem than normal.

Water butts can be ordered here;

https://www.gardenis.co.uk/collections/grow-your-own